Should her reelection bid fail, U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt. may or may not have a career in comedy.
At the end of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s tense testimony before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Balint tried lightening the mood. Democrats and Republicans had sparred for nearly five hours, with GOP lawmakers threatening to hold Garland in contempt if he refused to release the audio recordings of special counsel Robert K. Hur’s interviews with President Joe Biden.
“May the record show that, although I’m a Vermonter, I do not partake in cannabis products,” Balint said. “But after today’s hearings I could understand why someone might want to actually pop a gummy.”
Cannabis gummies are sugary treats infused with THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis. Vermont’s sole representative appeared to riff on the stress-reducing properties as possibly alleviating the tension of that day’s political infighting.
The joke was received by near-total silence, and Balint hurried on — though Garland appeared to grace her quip with a modest, amused smile.
Perhaps lawmakers in the chamber failed to appreciate the context behind Balint’s jest. Vermonters’ cannabis use consistently ranks as one of the highest in the country, and since the state created a regulated market in 2022, it already has more than 70 licensed retail locations selling cannabis products.
Or perhaps the judiciary committee is simply a tough crowd. On the website X, formerly known as Twitter, popular politics blogger Aaron Rupar clipped Balint’s joke and shared it with his more than 900,000 followers. The 15-second video, captioned “LMAO!”, had been viewed more than 300,000 times as of Thursday afternoon, with many users appreciating Balint’s sense of humor.
“Same, sis. Same,” one user responded.
“Our congresswoman grows on me more each day,” wrote another.
The clip was also shared on YouTube, where one user empathized with Balint’s sentiment: “Pop a gummy? These jokers in the House make me wanna buy an (ounce) of top shelf kush, a bong, and a bag of chips. So I did.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Becca Balint jokes about popping ‘a gummy’ during US House Judiciary Committee hearing.