As the clock keeps ticking during the final weeks of Congress\u2019s lame duck session, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) says marijuana banking reform is one of the \u201coutstanding\u201d items he\u2019s committed to advancing before his retirement. A key senator also said that a deal on the bill \u201cabsolutely could still happen,\u201d with lawmakers \u201cclose\u201d to an agreement.<\/p>\n
That said, the Senate minority whip says he doesn\u2019t expect to see the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act attached to omnibus appropriations legislation that\u2019s being actively negotiated and that advocates are hoping to see used as the vehicle for the reform<\/a> after an attempt to place it in a separate defense bill failed this month<\/a>.<\/p>\n The pressure is on, with just weeks left before the end of the 117th Congress\u2014and financial organizations including the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFICU) and Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) are amplifying their message to lawmakers to get the job done sooner than later.<\/p>\n While there\u2019s uncertainty in the air, Perlmutter said at a House Rules Committee meeting on Tuesday that there are \u201ctwo outstanding matters that I\u2019m still working on.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, one is SAFE Banking,\u201d he said, holding up the text of what appeared to be an amendment with the reform language. \u201cHopefully I can add it to something. There aren\u2019t many more things\u2014but add it to something.\u201d<\/p>\n The congressman said in a hearing in the panel last week that he was eyeing appropriations as a possible vehicle<\/a>, and he sharply criticized the Senate for failing to get it across the finish line after the bill passed the House in some form seven times at this point.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-MA) gave a brief speech applauding Perlmutter\u2019s work on a variety of issues as he prepares to retire at the end of the session. He joked that \u201cnone of us will ever forget, as long as we live, his advocacy for the SAFE Banking Act.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe has truly led the charge on this issue\u2014like no other member of Congress on any other issue,\u201d McGovern said. \u201cI think that I speak for most of us when I say I hope to hell we can get it done and never have to talk about it again.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) cosigned the chair\u2019s remarks and added that she doesn\u2019t think she\u2019s \u201cever passed a bill that he didn\u2019t call me up and say, \u2018we\u2019ve got to attach SAFE Banking to it.’\u201d The congresswoman said that \u201che\u2019s absolutely right\u2014it\u2019s a bill that\u2019s long overdue and needs to pass, and he did incredible work.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said in an interview with Nexstar that aired<\/a> on Monday that he sees a path forward.<\/p>\n \u201cIt absolutely could still happen,\u201d Brown said. He added that lawmakers are \u201cthis close to a deal,\u201d placing his thumb and index fingers about an inch apart.<\/p>\n He also left the door open for a package of incremental reforms known colloquially as SAFE Plus that would involve both cannabis banking and expungement proposals. Brown said that \u201cwe\u2019re trying to walk that line to help those young people\u201d with marijuana records.<\/p>\n Whether SAFE or SAFE Plus makes it into must-pass spending legislation is yet to be seen. The text of the omnibus package was originally expected to be released on Monday, but there\u2019s been back-and-forth in congressional negotiations, and now lawmakers are discussing passing a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through December 23 to give them more time to reach consensus on a final bill for the 2023 Fiscal Year. The current deadline is December 16.<\/p>\n Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who cheered the exclusion of marijuana language<\/a> from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), has signaled that he\u2019d push to keep it out of the appropriations legislation as well. And Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) told Bloomberg News on Tuesday that he doesn\u2019t expect SAFE to be incorporated into the final spending deal.<\/p>\n MARIJUANA: @SenJohnThune<\/a> says doesn\u2019t see SAFE Banking act riding on the spending bill since divides the GOP<\/p>\n \u2014 Erik Wasson (@elwasson) December 13, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n It\u2019s always possible, of course, that lawmakers seek to pass cannabis reform as a standalone in what\u2019s left of the lame duck; but alternative legislative options are dwindling amid growing calls from advocates and stakeholders to advance something before the next Congress.<\/p>\n ICBA recently launched<\/a> a call-to-action portal where marijuana banking reform supporters can send messages to their congressional representatives, urging them to advance the legislation.<\/p>\n While the National Defense Authorization Act excludes ICBA-advocated cannabis banking legislation and ICBA-opposed language to expand the Durbin Amendment, the debate over both initiatives continues.<\/p>\n Tell Congress: Pass the #SAFEBankingAct<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/OQb64riTxK<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Independent Community Bankers of America (@ICBA) December 13, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cThis bill has passed the House seven times, and each time has stalled in the Senate,\u201d ICBA, which sent a letter to Senate leadership<\/a> late last month similarly demanding action, said. \u201cThere is significant support in both Houses. We need your letters to remind Congress how critically important this issue is.\u201d<\/p>\n Relatedly, NAFCU President and CEO B. Dan Berger penned an op-ed<\/a> that was published late last week with this message to Congress: \u201cEnd the year strong by passing legislation that has broad bipartisan, industry, and public support.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCongress has the opportunity to pass the SAFE Banking Act yet this year, potentially as part of the omnibus funding package,\u201d he said. \u201cI call on our leaders to do what is right and end the year with a major win for credit unions and our nation as a whole: Pass the SAFE Banking Act.\u201d<\/p>\n Last week, SAFE Banking sponsor Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said that he will \u201ckeep fighting\u201d to get the reform \u201cpassed this year,\u201d adding that \u201cthis is not the end of the road.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to make sure that legal cannabis businesses have access to the financial services they need\u2014operating in cash is an open door to robbery and money laundering,\u201d he said. That\u2019s also\u00a0a point highlighted in a recent analysis<\/a>\u00a0that looked at the trends and motivations for crimes targeting cannabis businesses in Washington State.<\/p>\n One senator who could make or break the final SAFE deal in appropriations is Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), who was among a small group of senators who met with the Justice Department this week to seek assurances that\u00a0issues it raised over SAFE Banking in a memo<\/a>\u00a0earlier this year have been effectively resolved.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), who will serve as Senate president pro tempore for the 118th Congress, is also pushing for passage of the cannabis banking reform during the lame duck, which she discussed at a leadership briefing with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) last week.<\/p>\n Murray said that Democrats have made significant progress on a number of issues, even with the slimmest possible majority in the Senate. She said that \u201cwe are not done yet,\u201d and there are areas of bipartisan consensus that can still advance before the end of the session, which includes \u201cmaking sure our legal cannabis businesses can access credit.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether SAFE or SAFE Plus makes it into the forthcoming appropriations deal is yet to be seen. But it\u2019s far from the only cannabis reform that advocates are hoping to see included in the final package delivered to the president\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n The various appropriations bills that the House and Senate considered or advanced this year contain provisions ranging from protecting state marijuana programs from federal interference to removing the congressional blockade that\u2019s prevented Washington, D.C. to implement a system of regulated cannabis sales for adults.<\/p>\n DOJ Official Details Plans To Provide Presidential Marijuana Pardon Certificates Through 10-Minute Application Process<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post House Marijuana Banking Sponsor And Key Senator Keep Up Fight, While GOP Whip Tempers Expectations And Clock Ticks Down<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
As the clock keeps ticking during the final weeks of Congress\u2019s lame duck session, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) says marijuana banking reform is one of the \u201coutstanding\u201d items he\u2019s committed to advancing before his retirement. A key senator also said that a deal on the bill \u201cabsolutely could still happen,\u201dContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59314"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59314"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59315,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59314\/revisions\/59315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: House Marijuana Banking Sponsor And Key Senator Keep Up Fight, While GOP Whip Tempers Expectations And Clock Ticks Down<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"