For months, the Obama Administration has been dealing with the growing revolt among the states over federal marijuana laws. Twenty states and the District of Columbia legalized medical marijuana use over the opposition of the federal government and medical use. Two states, Colorado and Washington, have legalized the sale and possession of marijuana. It is a classic conflict between states and the federal government under federalism. Some of us view the states as asserting a classic police power in an area that was left to the states under our federalism principles. Now the Obama Administration has said that it will withhold water from state-licensed pot growers in Washington state and Colorado. The decision by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is particularly problematic given the fact that the federal government has stepped in to take effective control of the water resources in these states and now appears to be using that control to try to coerce states to change their laws to satisfy the federal government.
Dan DuBray, the agency’s chief of public affairs, insists that “[a] a federal agency, Reclamation is obligated to adhere to federal law in the conduct of its responsibilities to the American people.” However, that position is inconsistent with the actions of the Obama Administration in other years. I recently testified (here and here and here) and wrote a column on President Obama’s increasing circumvention of Congress in negating or suspending U.S. laws. The Obama Administration has no qualms about rewriting laws like the ACA or ordering the non enforcement of other laws like the controversy over the DREAM Act. However, when administering a water resource, the Administration insists that it has to actively cut off water in order to indirectly support federal marijuana.
This argument is even less plausible when one considers that the Justice Department has altered its enforcement of the actual drug laws in light of these two state changes. So, the Administration is directly altering enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act but a water agency is actively changing its operations “in a manner that is consistent with the Controlled Substances Act.” Note this policy is not a refusal to make a change of accommodation but a decision to take action in a way to punish growers.
The decision of the federal government to take control of the water resources out West has long been controversial. Many warned that the control of water could result in an attempt to control a state’s internal policies or laws. The Bureau of Reclamation, the nation’s largest wholesaler of water, was created in 1902 to cover 17 states due to the building of federal dams and canals that took control of what was once free flowing surface waters. Part of the Department of Interior, it now delivers water to more than 31 million people and one out of every five Western farmers. In Washington state, that translates to 1.2 million acres of land — much of which is coming from the Columbia and Yakima rivers which once were under state control.
This is the first time in recent memory that the government is using the control as a weapon to punish errant states over its laws. The agency controls two-thirds of the water of Washington state’s irrigated land. Washington is most at risk for that reason (Oregon’s pot farms are only allowed for indoor growing).
Source: McClatchy DC
RTC: You don’t really believe that, do you?
By the time the MSM gets around to it, the story’s been on conservative outlets like Fox for a while.
Karen, When you hear, “The MSM is conservative” you know you’re wasting your time.
Britain is in the grips of neocons who want to do everything they possibly can to destroy the pediments of social democracy
RTC – the Conservative Party of England is not as conservative as the TEA Party. They are right of center, just as the Labour Party is left of center.
Karen:
That’s because most of the MSM is conservative. Thanks for admitting that. Finally.
RTC – only 7% of journalists report being Republican. How many of those do you think are conservatives. MSM is controlled by liberals who spend no time on Obama scandals and lots of time on what the Kardasians are up to. Fox News at least covers the scandals.
Karen: no I’m not blaming former President George W. Bush directly, anymore than I blame him for any of the misguided opinions you’ve expressed this week.
I would hold him slightly more accountable if he appointed whoever is driving this policy decision at BLM.
But the truth of the federal bureaucracy is that many people of different political stripes hold positions at many levels and,right or wrong, they act accordingly
Schulte: “the problem is that Obama sees these problems on TV, is enraged, sends people to study them. And then there are crickets.”
OK, that’s funny
Hold on Karen: Bush and his Republican counterparts in Congress drastically cut funding for veteran benefits in order to afford more war in the Middle East at a time when more veterans were surviving battle injuries. The Congressional Budget Office had warned that those cuts would lead to problems. Turns out they were right.
I think we all realize you don’t like Obama. But you should make your case without resorting to distorting the truth.
BTW: VA health administration compares to national single payer health care the same way a bicycle compares to motorcycle. It’s funny how countries that have a single payer healthcare system don’t have VA-like problems.
RTC – have you any idea the problems the UK is having with its single payer plan? Do you have any idea of their wait lists? Their death lists? You should keep up.
Jay Carney takes smug injections before every daily briefing.
RTC – the problem is that Obama sees these problems on TV, is enraged, sends people to study them. And then there are crickets.
RTC: Bundy must be bunking with Donald Sterling.
RTC: Haha! Well, that’s another reason for the sleeping mainstream media to wake up. Because most of these stories get broken on conservative media, because the press is too protective of Democrats.
Heck, if the President needs to hear about everything that’s going on via the news, then the media had better start doing their job! Because his staff, committees, briefs, meetings, and the NSA sure don’t seem to know what’s going on!
RTC: Are you blaming Bush for the federal government’s recent demand to punish marijuana pot growers?
Did Obama just wake up in the White House, and have no idea what is going on in any department, regardless of constant briefings, and a staff whose job is to know? Just checking.
Karen: If the prez is saying he learned of this on the news, then there’s good chance that the BLM will be reversing course soon.
Paul – Jay Carney always looks so bored and disdainful of us peasants rudely asking for the truth.
And the VA is an example of why I oppose Single Payor systems.
The American people have clamored for more choice, and more competition, not less. When vets are confined to a VA hospital, they can’t just go somewhere else when faced with a 9 month waiting list for an appointment. If they need a specialist in a rare disorder, they’re stuck with whomever is at their VA. There is limited choice and no competition. I know there are vets who had good experiences with the VA, but city after city has been caught up in this record purge scandal in an attempt to give the false impression that they were meeting their 2 week wait goal. This is what happens when there are no choices outside the VA.
And it has been claimed that it’s “all Bush’s fault” that this happened in the first place, because he sent us to war. Well, it’s a shame that Pelosi hasn’t opened a history book. Because our nation has a history of war. And Obama did not end any of the active wars the day he took office. He continued them for years.
The VA, by definition, is supposed to handle its patient load in times of war and in times of peace. If it can’t handle a wartime patient load, then it is a massive failure of management and oversight, not the fault of who directed us to war. And the war in Afghanistan was voted on unanimously by Congress. It defies credulity that politicians can blame every failure of a 2 term president on his predecessor.
Karen – don’t forget that Obama compounded the problem by making access to the VA easier, thereby adding more potential patients who of course ended on the wait list.
Paul:
The President lacks credibility when the first time he hears about anything, it’s from watching the news. Especially when there is a paper trail (and video) showing he’s known about it for years.
We always hear these rousing speeches that he knew nothing about it until this morning, but by golly, he’ll get to the bottom of it. And then comes the stone walling, the denials, the “not a smidgeon of corruption” as people plead the 5th or refuse to answer questions . . . It’s a clear pattern.
Karen – by Monday Jay Carney will declare it as old news.
rcampbell:
The problem with the Administration on this one is:
1) They are sending mixed messages. On the one hand, Obama and Holder both admitted to smoking pot, and said it was no big deal. The Justice Dept has changed its enforcement of drug laws against marijuana because of its legalization in several states. But then the federal government uses resources it took over from the state to punish marijuana growers. Don’t punish growers who are following state law. If you object to state law conflicting with federal law, then pursue it in court. But you do not take over a state’s resources to punish private citizens who are following the law in their state. The Admin needs to make up its mind one way or the other and pursue this (or not) in the court system.
2) It took over a resource that was under the jurisdiction of a state, and then used that power to punish private citizens in that state.
Does anyone know when the feds took over the state’s water supply? Was it recently? Or was it done a while ago, and only used recently as a way to punish a state through punishing its citizens?
Nick – Oh yes, the beloved mileage tax. So now you’ll be taxed if you drive anywhere for vacation. If you buy any good or service, the price will go up, because the cost of doing business just went up.
And that’s the connection that is completely lost on policy makers. Those “bad” trucks that cause wear and tear on the road? They are delivering our groceries, building materials, etc that we all benefit from.
The government forgot it’s basic role is to provide infrastructure such as roads. It’s piled on so many more benefits and services that it is failing in its most basic need – keeping our roads up. Now we’re paying extra because they’ve spent or earmarked the taxes they already collected for roads elsewhere. Like a vacation train to SF.
BTW, where’s that Bundy moron when you need him? He seemed to have a way with BLM.
You telling me he’s not a dope smoker?
rcampbell makes a good point worth considering. The federal govt is a broad and diverse collection of bureaucracies, each with its own culture. I would say that the BLM is further out on the branch than the DOJ and operates with more administrative autonomy. There might even be Bush holdovers making this determination.
The final proof will be of the pudding will be in the eating, as they used to say.
RTC – this came up at the same time as Bundy but we didn’t really cover it during that discussion. The BLM is as crazed as all the other administrative agencies. Just so we are all on top of the administration. DHS has a new essential building that is running 1.5 billion over estimates and that was just as of this week.