Top Senate Democrat And House Republican Reaffirm Support For Marijuana Banking Bill As Congress Finalizes Government Funding

The chair of the Senate Banking Committee says that passing marijuana banking legislation remains a priority for the chamber, despite political complications in the House. And a top Republican congressman is also reaffirming his support for the bipartisan cannabis measure, despite not being “a marijuana guy.”

As Congress prepares to pass a final package of spending bills for the 2024 Fiscal Year ahead of a Friday deadline, there’s renewed attention to other legislative priorities, including the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH), whose panel approved the marijuana banking bill last September, was asked by AskAPol recently whether he anticipates the measure will ultimately pass on the floor this year, to which he responded: “Hope so.”

“We’ve got a House that’s still not moving on stuff that matters to Republicans,” he said, referencing intra-party divisions in the GOP-controlled chamber. “The truth is that’s really pushed us back on what we can do in the Senate with floor time.”

But Brown said the Senate still wants to advance the SAFER Banking Act, as well as legislation on railroad safety and tax reform, adding that “all that’s sort of connected.”

The comments echo what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said earlier this month, as he recommitted to prioritizing the cannabis measure after appropriations were covered. Schumer told Marijuana Moment that the bill remains a “very high priority” for the Senate, and members are having “very productive” bicameral talks to reach a final agreement.

Meanwhile, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) said during an American Bankers Association (ABA) summit on Tuesday that he reaffirmed that he wants to see the SAFER Banking Act move.

He said that, “for whatever reason, the federal government has been slow” to act on the incremental reform that he supports even though he doesn’t identify as “a marijuana guy.

“You would think [because] I’m in Congress that I’m stoned all the time. It just isn’t my deal,” he joked.

Emmer added that while he does have “a lot of concerns about this mind-altering substance,” he feels that “the message is it’s not how you feel about this, it is whether or not it is a legitimate legal business.”

“Like it or not, if your state has enacted laws creating this as a legal entity that is legitimate, our bankers should be allowed to bank,” he said. “That’s my belief, and I think that’s the approach. It’s not whether you are a marijuana lover or hater, it’s more: This is a legitimate business that has been approved by the representative government of that state.”

Watch Emmer’s marijuana banking comments, around 1:47:30 into the video below:

Happening this morning at #ABASummit: 🔹@BankersPrez remarks 🔹The View from Main Street: Bank CEO Panel 🔹Conversation with Former @CFPB@FDICgov@federalreserve Officials 🔹@GOPMajorityWhip 🔹@thepointsguy

Watch 👇 https://t.co/uCezFJY6p0

— American Bankers Association (@ABABankers) March 19, 2024

Earlier versions of the legislation have cleared the House in some form seven times in recent sessions, with bipartisan support. But Senate leadership has delayed floor consideration since the bill’s committee approval, in part due to uncertainties around how the GOP-controlled House would approach it.

Another key factor that’s kept the bill from the floor is disagreement over mostly non-cannabis provisions dealing with broader banking regulations, primarily those contained in Section 10 of the legislation.

Bicameral negotiations have been ongoing, however, and recent reporting suggests that a final deal could be just over the horizon.

The Democratic Senate sponsor of the SAFER Banking Act, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), told Marijuana Moment this month that the legislation is “gaining momentum” as lawmakers work to bring it to the floor and pass it “this year.”

The office of the Republican SAFER Banking prime sponsor, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), separately told Marijuana Moment that “conversations have been productive and Senator Daines is working to get the bill across the finish line.”

—Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,400 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.—

At the close of the first half of the 118th Congress in December, Schumer said in a floor speech that lawmakers would “hit the ground running” in 2024, aiming to build on bipartisan progress on several key issues, including marijuana banking reform—though he noted it “won’t be easy.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) signed on as a cosponsor of the SAFER Banking Act this month, becoming the 36th member of the chamber to add their name to the legislation in addition to its lead sponsor.

If the SAFER Banking Act does make it to the Senate floor this year, it’s expected to be amended. For example, Schumer has discussed the “moral responsibility” of further amending it to add provisions on state-legal cannabis expungements and gun rights for cannabis consumers.

Separately, the original sponsor of the first cannabis banking reform bill, former Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), spoke with Marijuana Moment last month about his work with a national marijuana group lobbying on the legislation. He said he remains “hopeful” that there’s enough time and momentum to enact the measure this year.

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Senate Banking Chairman Says ‘We Need’ To Pass Marijuana Banking Bill ‘This Year,’ Disclosing White House Support

The chairman of a key Senate committee says lawmakers need to act on marijuana banking legislation “this year,” and his Republican counterpart on the panel agrees that the issue will “come to a conclusion likely in this Congress.”

On the House side, the GOP chairman of that chamber’s committee of jurisdiction says that the cannabis banking problem is “not a priority for me” while adding that he is “not closed off” to the issue altogether.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) also reiterated that leadership was prepared to “move” on the cannabis reform just before the collapse of a bank this month distracted members, and he disclosed that “the White House wants this fixed,” as far as he’s been told.

Both Brown and the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), spoke at the American Bankers Association (ABA) Washington Summit on Wednesday—one day after the lead GOP sponsor of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act urged the financial sector to put pressure on Congress to get the job done.

“The prognosis is positive,” Brown said, adding that he’s “hopeful we can do it relatively soon.”

“Prognosis is positive…I’m hopeful we can do it relatively soon.” @SenateBanking@BankingGOP Chair @SenSherrodBrown comments at #ABASummit on likelihood of passing the bipartisan #SAFEBanking Act. ABA urges Congress to pass this commonsense legislation. pic.twitter.com/9I9SoBD2EJ

— American Bankers Association (@ABABankers) March 22, 2023

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had been gearing up to reintroduce the marijuana banking bill before the Senate’s Easter recess, he said. And while he’s unclear where Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) currently stands on the issue, he said he’s under the impression that the White House is supportive of the legislation.

That’s a notable detail, as White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to say what President Joe Biden thinks about the policy proposal during a briefing in January, stating that it was up to Congress.

“The problem right now” is that the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the broader economic fallout from that failure is an “absolutely essential crisis” that’s detracted from the cannabis reform. “We were very close to moving on something” before that situation developed.

“There’s good bipartisan support on this, especially depending on what states members are from,” Brown said. “But I’m very hopeful—and this is something we need to do and we need to do it this year.”

Scott, for his part, made clear that he’s not especially supportive of the reform, but he recognizes that the SAFE Banking Act enjoys significant bipartisan backing, and he’s confident it will be addressed in short order while the country has a broader conversation about federal marijuana legalization.

He said that one area where he and Brown agree is that the banking legislation should be taken up during regular order rather than brought directly to floor as part of a larger must-pass bill.

“I think that’s an important decision, as opposed to rushing it to the floor where many of us will then stand strongly against the process and before we even address the underlying legislation,” Scott, who many speculate will run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said. “The good news is we both agreed that the regular process, regular order, is very important for the SAFE Act.”

“There are Republicans who’ve come out very positively on behalf of the SAFE Act. I’m not one of those Republicans, but there is a bipartisan coalition who wants to have a serious conversation about the challenges that it would solve,” he said. “And the question is: does that legislation actually solve more challenges than it creates harm?”

Scott also said that lawmakers need to take on the broader debate about federal marijuana legalization, which is “something that we’re going to have to wrestle with as a nation and as a Congress and get to an answer there.”

“But there is a bipartisan coalition who wants to have that conversation, so I think that’s good news,” he said. “Both sides want to go through regular order—that’s better news. I think we’ll come to a conclusion likely in this Congress.”

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) also spoke at the ABA summit on Wednesday. He stressed that the SAFE Banking Act is “not a priority” on his agenda, though he acknowledged that several of his Republican colleagues on the panel such as Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) are working to advance the issue.

“I’m not closed off to this. I understand the societal implications and the challenges that are occurring here,” he said, noting that he has voted against versions of the bill on several occasions. “I don’t think this is the proper means to solve a societal problem through finance.”

The chairman added that he considers it problematic that Senate leadership “wants to lay on this whole other layer of stuff on social justice issues to this circumstance, rather than getting to the core of this issue, which is the legal status of cannabis in federal law.”

“You fix that, the banking issue is fixed,” he said. “The bigger issue is the status of cannabis in federal law, and whether or not that fits and is appropriate to the class of drugs it sits with. Let’s have that debate. The banking issue gets fixed as a result.”

McHenry previously said that while he still opposes the banking proposal, he wouldn’t stand in its way.

On Tuesday, a coalition of cannabis industry associations sent a letter to Senate Banking Committee leadership, urging a swift action on the bipartisan banking legislation, which has cleared the House multiple times in past sessions only to stall in the Senate.

The National Cannabis Roundtable (NCR), National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), U.S. Cannabis Council (USCC), Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA) and National Hispanic Cannabis Council (NHCC) led the letter to Brown and Scott.

They groups said that the committee should “immediately schedule a hearing to discuss the lack of access to banking and other financial resources that is harming the U.S. cannabis industry, and advance bipartisan legislation expeditiously to improve public safety and provide much-needed access to capital to these businesses.”

ABA has been advocating for the banking legislation for years, and it released a poll last year that found 65 percent of Americans want to see a fix to the cannabis banking problem.

Advocates and industry stakeholders have run low on patience with the Senate after leadership failed to pass the banking reform, along with other modest proposals on issues like expungements, as part of the so-called SAFE Plus package last session.

Schumer said last week that he’s still committed to moving the legislation with SAFE Banking sponsor Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), even with a divided Congress where Republicans control the House.

After last year’s election, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said that he believed it could take “many years from now” to pass cannabis legislation if Democrats didn’t get the job done during the lame duck session.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who also spoke at ABA’s summit, said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing last week that regulators are separately exploring options to address the cannabis banking issue.

Last year, she said that it’s “extremely frustrating” that Congress has so far been unable to pass legislation like the SAFE Banking Act and that Treasury is “supportive” of the proposal.

“We have talked about it for a very long time, and I agree with you: It’s an important issue—and it’s an extremely frustrating one that we haven’t been able to resolve it,” she said at a House committee hearing.

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Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.

GOP Senator Wants Bankers To ‘Unleash An Army’ Of Lobbyists To Help Pass Marijuana Banking Bill

The lead GOP Senate sponsor of a marijuana banking bill wants bankers to “unleash and army” of lobbyists on Capitol Hill to push for the passage of the reform legislation through the Senate this Congress.

During a speech at the American Bankers Association (ABA) Washington Summit on Tuesday, the senator talked next steps for the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act that he’s working to advance alongside Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other lawmakers.

Daines said he believes there’s a “chance” it can pass under regular order in the Senate by going through the committee process.

“This bill has been out there a long time,” he said. “I think with each passing year, there’s a greater number of people who understand that the problem—forcing businesses to operate in all cash—is only getting worse. We need to be very clear: this is a public safety bill, and the longer we go without addressing this issue, the worse the situation on the ground becomes.”

Asked whether he thinks the banking bill could garner even more cosponsors than last session, when it had nearly half of the Senate signed on, Daines told the audience of about 2,000 bankers that it’s an area “where I need your help.”

“I think this is a lot about educating folks on an issue. This is not about whether you support legalization or not. This is not some kind of proxy vote for endorsing federal legalization of marijuana,” the senator said. “It’s totally unrelated. What this is about is solving a problem that’s facing our financial service businesses, our legal cannabis businesses” and other ancillary industries, from plumbers to brokers.

He added that he’s “very thankful” for the support of bankers, saying “we could unleash an army of you all in this room on Capitol Hill” to advocate for the passage of the cannabis banking bill.

Two new speakers have been added to the lineup at next week’s #ABASummit in DC.@SenateBanking@BankingGOP member and #SAFEBanking Act co-sponsor Sen. @SteveDaines will share his perspective on the bill as well as current issues facing the banking sector and policymakers.

— American Bankers Association (@ABABankers) March 16, 2023

“I think it’s educate, it’s educate, it’s educate. Reach out to your members of Congress. Where you can, connect the dots in your state and your request,” he said.

The senator urged the audience to ask their representatives to cosponsor the SAFE Banking Act, while also building a coalition of supporters in law enforcement to drive home the point to lawmakers that this legislation is about public safety.

“Remember, this is called the SAFE Banking bill. It’s not about cannabis,” he said. It’s about safety and trying to reduce the crime that’s exploding in our communities as a result of too much cash.”

Daines said recently that the original plan was to reintroduce the SAFE Banking Act before the Senate’s Easter recess—but the timing has become less certain after a recent banking collapse that has distracted the attention of members of the relevant committee of jurisdiction.

The senator made the new comments on the same day that a coalition of cannabis industry associations sent a letter to Senate Banking Committee leadership, urging a swift action on the bipartisan banking legislation, which has cleared the House multiple times in past sessions only to stall in the Senate.

@NCIAorg@USCannabisCncl@MinCannBusAssoc@nhccouncil@FollowNCR stand united in this call for urgent action by Congress on #SAFEBanking & addressing access to capital issues for the state-legal cannabis industry. #SAFECantWait

— National Cannabis Roundtable (@FollowNCR) March 21, 2023

The National Cannabis Roundtable (NCR), National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), U.S. Cannabis Council (USCC), Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA) and National Hispanic Cannabis Council (NHCC) led the letter to Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ranking Member Tim Scott (R-SC).

They groups said that the committee should “immediately schedule a hearing to discuss the lack of access to banking and other financial resources that is harming the U.S. cannabis industry, and advance bipartisan legislation expeditiously to improve public safety and provide much-needed access to capital to these businesses.”

ABA has been advocating for the banking legislation for years, and it released a poll last year that found 65 percent of Americans want to see a fix to the cannabis banking problem.

Advocates and industry stakeholders have run low on patience with the Senate after leadership failed to pass the banking reform, along with other modest proposals on issues like expungements, as part of the so-called SAFE Plus package last session.

Schumer said last week that he’s still committed to moving the legislation with Daines, even with a divided Congress where Republicans control the House.

After last year’s election, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said that he believed it could take “many years from now” to pass cannabis legislation if Democrats didn’t get the job done during the lame duck session.

—Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,000 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.—

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said in December that while he still opposes the banking proposal, he wouldn’t stand in its way.

The White House was asked in January where President Joe Biden stands on marijuana banking reform, and Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the ball is in Congress’s court, with no current plans for administrative action to resolve the issue.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who is also speaking at ABA’s summit, said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing last week that regulators are separately exploring options to address the cannabis banking issue.

Last year, she said that it’s “extremely frustrating” that Congress has so far been unable to pass legislation like the SAFE Banking Act and that Treasury is “supportive” of the proposal.

“We have talked about it for a very long time, and I agree with you: It’s an important issue—and it’s an extremely frustrating one that we haven’t been able to resolve it,” she said at a House committee hearing.

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