One day after the DEA closed the record on rescheduling, Congress raised the bid. On July 16, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senators Cory Booker and Ron Wyden reintroduced the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act — the comprehensive bill that would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act entirely. Not Schedule III. Not a tax fix. Gone from the schedules, with states left to set their own rules. Booker’s office lists 14 additional original cosponsors.
For searchers, the short version of what the CAOA does: deschedules cannabis, automatically expunges federal non-violent cannabis convictions and allows resentencing, restores federal benefits denied over past convictions, protects noncitizens from cannabis-related deportation, extends federal labor protections to cannabis workers, and routes federal cannabis tax revenue to reentry services, job training and youth prevention (the Senate summary is here).
The union angle is the new muscle
The same day, the UFCW — the 1.2-million-member retail and food workers union that calls itself “America’s cannabis union” — formally endorsed the bill. UFCW International President Milton Jones put it plainly: Congress has “the rare opportunity to shape this industry into one that protects workers.” The labor mechanics matter more than the press release: agricultural cannabis workers currently sit outside the National Labor Relations Act, and the CAOA would guarantee NLRA coverage for all cannabis workers, plus OSHA and Fair Labor Standards Act protections and a national workplace-safety standard for the industry.
Now the reality check
Schumer is minority leader. This bill is not passing this Congress, and everybody involved knows it. It’s a marker — a statement of what the descheduling coalition wants on the record heading into the midterms, timed to land while the administrative rescheduling fight sits with a DEA judge. The two tracks are competing theories of reform: the agency route gets you Schedule III and tax relief; the CAOA route gets you actual legalization. Ask the Pentagon, the IRS, or anyone reading our coverage of the KIDS Act ad restrictions why the difference matters: rescheduling leaves every one of those conflicts standing.
Also worth watching: whether any Senate Republicans engage. Cannabis polls above 65 percent nationally, the midterms are in November, and swing-state legislatures like Pennsylvania’s are feeling that pressure right now. The CAOA won’t become law in 2026 — but it sets the terms for the Congress that might pass it.
What’s actually new in the 2026 version
The CAOA has been introduced before — 2021, 2022, 2024 — and died each time without a floor vote. Two things are different now. First, the backdrop: medical cannabis is already Schedule III, an adult-use record is closed and awaiting a judge’s recommendation, and half the Senate’s home states run legal markets. A descheduling bill reads less like fantasy and more like the logical end-state of a process already in motion. Second, the labor coalition: UFCW’s formal endorsement puts organizing muscle and midterm-season door-knockers behind a bill that previously had advocacy groups but not institutional labor.
CAOA FAQ
Would the CAOA legalize marijuana nationwide? It would remove cannabis from the federal Controlled Substances Act and let each state decide its own policy — states could still prohibit it.
What happens to people with federal cannabis convictions? Non-violent federal cannabis offenses would be automatically expunged, with resentencing available and funding for state expungement programs.
Does the CAOA have Republican support? As introduced, no — the original cosponsors are Democrats. Its function this Congress is agenda-setting, not passage.
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