According to Rolling Stone [7], the vote was mainly along party lines -- only six Democrats voted against it, and five voted for it. The roll call isn't on congress.gov [8] yet, so we don't have the list yet.
Phil is working on a Chronicle piece that we'll be posting sortly, and we'll have a longer one next week. We have a full Chronicle story on other good news from this week, namely the UN's reclassification of marijuana [9] in the international drug scheduling system.
What's next for MORE? Whether any legalization bill is likely to get a chance for a vote in the Senate depends on what happens in the Georgia runoff races and whether Democrats or Republicans control that chamber. And the 51-50 majority Democrats will have if they win both Georgia seats will be a challenging environment too.
If there is a chance, one way or another, to move a legalization bill through the process in the Senate, the handful of Republicans who might consider legalization would probably prefer something like the STATES Act, a simpler removal of federal prohibition in states that have passed legalization. Perhaps some Democrats would prefer that too. What our movement's strategy should be in a situation like that is a question about which there will undoubtedly be different opinions, a possible source of contention lying ahead of us.
In the meanwhile, though, this is a time to be happy -- if not about everything in the country and our lives, at least about the MORE Act and the House.
