Marijuana Moment: GOP Lawmakers Urge Trump Not To Reschedule Marijuana In Last-Ditch Effort To Block Historic Reform

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Republican congressional lawmakers are making a last-ditch attempt to convince President Donald Trump not to follow through with reported plans to reschedule marijuana—with a pair of letters from House and Senate members who say the move would be a mistake.

The House letter says rescheduling cannabis would “send the wrong message to America’s children, enable drug cartels, and make our roads more dangerous.”

The representatives—led by Reps. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Andy Harris (R-TX)—said cannabis is a “harmful drug that is worsening our nation’s addiction crisis.”

The Senate letter, organized by Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC), told Trump that moving marijuana to Schedule III would “undermine your strong efforts to Make America Great Again and to usher in America’s next economic Golden Age.”

The House members’ letter attempts to appeal to Trump by characterizing the reform as a “Biden Administration rescheduling decision,” saying that the former president’s team tried to “expand the use of an addictive drug for partisan gain.”

“Rescheduling marijuana will not make America great,” the lawmakers wrote. “You have always been a role model for America’s youth, telling young people for years that they should never do drugs. We hope that you consider the harms of marijuana rescheduling and continue sending that strong message of hope to the next generation.”

The House letter claims that the policy change is not needed in order to boost research, contrary to comments the president made earlier this week.

Both the House and Senate letters—which were circulated as the White House confirmed to Marijuana Moment that Trump would be addressing cannabis rescheduling on Thursday—claim that the primary benefit of rescheduling would go to cannabis companies that would no longer subject to the federal tax penalty known as 280E and could write off their business expenses.

.@RepAndyHarrisMD and I co-led a letter to President Trump, joined by 24 of our colleagues, urging him to oppose any effort to reschedule marijuana.

Reclassifying marijuana would send the wrong message to our children, worsen addiction, undermine public safety, and hand… pic.twitter.com/nvSV4xyh6o

— Pete Sessions (@PeteSessions) December 18, 2025

“This would incentivize addiction-for-profit dispensaries to advertise more kid-friendly products than ever,” the House lawmakers wrote. “Tax relief should be prioritized for hard-working, law-abiding Americans and businesses, not marijuana shops.”

They also argue that enacting federal cannabis reform will make roads “more dangerous” due to impaired driving and will “hamper” Trump’s efforts to combat Chinese-linked criminal groups that operate illicit marijuana farms in the U.S.

“These farms yield billions in revenue for Chinese traffickers and are an essential component of fentanyl money laundering schemes. According to the DEA, many of these Chinese marijuana farms are licensed by state governments. Thus, they will be eligible for the 280E-exempt tax deductions under Schedule III. Our country cannot adopt a policy that will provide tax relief to Chinese cartels that kill thousands of Americans every day.”

“Schedule I drugs are addictive and have no medical value. Marijuana fits squarely into this category,” the House letter says. “Rescheduling tells our youth that marijuana use is acceptable and safe, a dangerous falsehood that will sink us deeper into our country’s drug crisis.”

Growing the marijuana industry endangers the health and safety of Americans. The only winners from rescheduling will be bad actors like Communist China and drug traffickers.

I led a letter with 22 of my Senate colleagues voicing concerns about marijuana rescheduling. pic.twitter.com/eVDSAd3zlX

— Senator Ted Budd (@SenTedBuddNC) December 18, 2025

The senators’ letter, first reported by Punchbowl News, concluded by saying that “in light of the documented dangers of marijuana, facilitating the growth of the marijuana industry is at odds with growing our economy and encouraging healthy lifestyles for Americans.”

“We urge you to continue your strong leadership of our country and our economy, and to turn away from marijuana rescheduling,” they said.

The Senate letter was signed by 22 members, including Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY), Republican Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Republican Policy Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), along with Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), John Cornyn (R-TX), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Rick Scott (R-FL), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY).

In addition to Session and Harris, the House letter, first reported by Fox News, was also signed by 24 other lawmakers.

Whether the messages from GOP lawmakers will influence the president’s decision remain to be seen, but numerous reports over the past week have affirmed that the rescheduling plan is in motion. That includes Marijuana Moment’s reporting on Wednesday that a White House official confirmed Trump is slated to address the issue on Thursday—while caveating that various rumors about the details are “speculation” until the administration finalizes a decision.

As recently reported, the president’s executive order may also address ancillary issues related to CBD coverage through federal Medicare and a call for congressional action on cannabis banking.

There are also rumors that a rescheduling decision will be coupled with presidential clemency, though the scope of that potential relief is unclear. That said, the White House spokesperson made clear that the deluge of details about the administration’s plans are speculative for now.

But according to NBC News, the executive order may contain an explicit push from the president urging Congress to pass a bipartisan bill titled the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act, which would prevent federal regulators for penalizing financial institutions simply for working with state-licensed marijuana businesses.

The lack of banking access for the cannabis industry was also raised in a Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday.

It’s also being speculated that the plan is to take a novel—albeit logistically complicated—approach to cannabidiol, a non-intoxicating component of the cannabis plant that’s widely used as a health supplement. Sources have said that drafts of the executive order have called on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to amend its rules to let people on Medicare receive reimbursements for the cannabinoid product.

That potential reform was also floated in a video from The Commonwealth Project touting the health benefits of CBD that Trump shared on Truth Social in late September.

CMS implemented a rule in April specifically stipulating that marijuana, as well as CBD that can be derived from federally legal hemp, are ineligible for coverage under its Medicare Advantage program and other services. But the agency has since revised the proposed rule, just weeks before the expected administrative order by Trump.

On Monday, Trump said he is “very strongly” considering rescheduling cannabis in part to ease restrictions on research into its effects.

Opponents of the policy change have stepped up their efforts to dissuade the administration from moving forward, arguing that a reclassification to Schedule III will further normalize marijuana use even though it would not federally legalize the plant. Rescheduling would, however, let marijuana businesses take federal tax deductions while reducing certain research barriers associated with Schedule I drugs.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), one of the more vocal prohibitionists in Congress, said this week that Trump doesn’t have the authority to unilaterally reschedule marijuana via executive order. But while lawmakers could overrule any administrative move to enact the reform, it would be a “heavy lift” in the Republican-controlled Congress, he acknowledged.

Meanwhile, multiple top congressional Democrats are making the case that the modest reform would not go far enough—including Sen. Ron Wyden (R-OR) who said the move is only an attempt by the president to “gaslight” voters into thinking he legalized cannabis to boost his “pathetic” approval ratings.

A major drug testing industry organization separately said it’s “sounding the alarm” amid the reports Trump may soon finalize the rescheduling proposal, arguing that the policy change would “have catastrophic consequences for the safety of the United States workforce and transportation sectors.”

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Bipartisan congressional lawmakers have been weighing in on the potential rescheduling decision over the past week—with Democrats like Rep. Alex Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) calling the reform a “no-brainer” and others like Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) pushing back against the proposal.

The Washington Post reported last week that Trump was planning to issue an executive order directing federal agencies to move ahead with cannabis rescheduling.

The outlet also said the president met earlier this week in the Oval Office with marijuana industry executives, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz. During that meeting, Trump phoned Johnson, the House speaker, who expressed his opposition to rescheduling cannabis,

If the administration does ultimately enact rescheduling, it would mark one of the most significant developments in federal marijuana policy since its prohibition a half a century ago, with a Schedule III reclassification recognizing that marijuana has medical value and a lower abuse potential compared to other Schedule I drugs like heroin.

Read the marijuana letters to Trump below:

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