Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania as well as the gentlewoman from Oregon and the gentleman from Kentucky.

I am very pleased to support both this amendment as well as a very similar one along with Representatives MASSIE, BLUMENAUER, BONAMICI, and BARR, thanking them for their leadership on a very commonsense issue that helps my home State of Colorado.

Last year, I was thrilled to be part of a successful effort to pass an amendment to the farm bill that allows colleges like Colorado State University in my district to grow hemp and cultivate hemp for academic and agricultural research purposes. But in no other instance can I think of urgent emails and texts that I have got from farmers where they are in dire straits and need my help in getting the seed they need to grow their crop approved through our own State Department of Agriculture.

Our current ag commissioner in Colorado is a former colleague of ours in this body, former Congressman John Salazar, as some of you may recall. He is our ag commissioner. They set up a rule process around industrial hemp farming. But farmers are unable to get the seed they need to be able to grow their legal crop.

Industrial hemp is critical for our economy. It is already used in countless products from clothing to a flag that is flown over this very United States Capitol last year to, in fact, some of the very first American flags, which were made of hemp. And yet we are forced to import it from other countries, driving jobs away from American agriculture and farmers to farms overseas.

It is really hard to grow industrial hemp when the DEA, without any clear reason, any argument, or any sense throws itself down as a roadblock to success. The DEA recently seized industrial hemp seeds intended for a university research pilot program. It is essential that our institutions of higher education are not prevented from growing or cultivating hemp seed.

In addition, hemp, as we know, is an important agricultural commodity and a historic one. We can do a lot better as a country. That is why Representative Bonamici and others are offering this very simple amendment which states that the DOJ and DEA cannot use funds to prevent State agricultural agencies and universities from growing industrial hemp in States where it is always legal.

Let us have access to the seed to ensure that we can continue to grow this crop here doing the research we need to ensure that the next great generation of hemp products that are bought and sold in our country are made in America. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the Bonamici amendment as well as the Massie amendment. I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania kindly.

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