Other Amendments:

• Holding Amendment to prohibit the use of funds to transfer or temporarily assign employees to the Office of the Pardon Attorney for the purpose of screening clemency applications. Agreed to by recorded vote: 219 - 189 (Roll no. 259)

• Cohen Amendment to reduce funding for salaries and expenses, Drug Enforcement Administration, by $18 million and to increase funding for payment to the Legal Services Corporation by $15 million: Failed.

• Jared Polis amendment to reduce funding for the Salaries and Expenses, Drug Enforcement Administration by $35,000,000. Failed

• An amendment to reduce funding for Salaries and Expenses, Federal Prison System by $1 million and increase funding for State and Local Law Enforcement Activities (criminal justice programs) by a similar amount. Passed.

• An amendment numbered 13 printed in the Congressional Record to strike sections 528 and 529 which prohibit the use of funds to be used to transfer or release any detainee who is or was held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba or construct any facility in the U.S. to house any detainee held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Failed.

• An amendment numbered 15 printed in the Congressional Record to prohibit the use of funds for operation, renovation, or construction at Thomson Correctional Facility in Illinois. Failed.

Some other amendments to reduce salaries and expenses of the Bureau of Prisons passed, with the money going to state law enforcement. Given the overcrowding at our federal prisons, the persons who will feel the brunt of this are the inmates. Congress needs to change the laws under which so many go to prison for far too long, rather than cut salaries and expenses. Let the states fund their own law enforcement programs.

The best way to end marijuana raids is to remove it from the controlled substance list and legalize it. That way, the DEA would have find another reason to raid. What happens if the DEA believes the person/grower/distributor is not in compliance with a state's law and the state disagrees? Since the feds dole out the money, it shouldn't be that difficult for them to convince their own department of the need for the raid. If they are wrong, will the feds avoid having to return the spent money by claiming they believed in "good fait"h they had grounds to raid?

I think this amendment is more symbolic of change rather than representing change itself. It also has to clear the Senate before becoming law.