{"id":59645,"date":"2022-12-20T12:31:51","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T20:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/12\/20\/schumer-blames-gop-for-marijuana-banking-failure-but-says-hell-go-back-at-it-next-year\/"},"modified":"2022-12-20T17:45:51","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T01:45:51","slug":"schumer-blames-gop-for-marijuana-banking-failure-but-says-hell-go-back-at-it-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/12\/20\/schumer-blames-gop-for-marijuana-banking-failure-but-says-hell-go-back-at-it-next-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Schumer Blames GOP For Marijuana Banking Failure, But Says He\u2019ll \u2018Go Back At It Next Year\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says that two top Republican senators re ultimately to blame for keeping marijuana banking out of a large-scale spending package<\/a> that was released on Tuesday\u2014but he pledged to \u201cgo back at it next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a Democratic Senate leadership briefing on Tuesday, the majority leader was pressed on the exclusion of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act from omnibus appropriations legislation, which supporters had hoped would be used as the vehicle for the reform during the lame duck session.<\/p>\n

Schumer placed the blame at the feet of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Pat Toomey (R-PA), who he says objected to including the reform in the spending bill.<\/p>\n

A Senate source had said last week that the majority leader was \u201cmaking a last ditch effort\u201d to attach the cannabis banking language<\/a> to the spending bill\u2014but the majority leader wasn\u2019t able to get the deal done. He said the issue would need to wait until the next Congress, which will see Republicans in control of the House.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had very good bipartisan support. We had hoped to get it done,\u201d Schumer said. \u201cI worked for months with different Republicans, led by [Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT)]\u2014but at the last minute, both senators Toomey and McConnell opposed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is bipartisan. It has the support of many different groups. We\u2019re going to go back at it next year,\u201d the majority leader said.<\/p>\n

McConnell had applauded the exclusion of SAFE Banking<\/a> from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) bill earlier this month, and he made clear that he was going to fight against attempts to advance it through appropriations<\/a>\u00a0as well.<\/p>\n

Toomey, meanwhile, was among a small group of senators who met with the Justice Department this month to seek assurances that issues it raised over SAFE Banking in an earlier memo<\/a> had been effectively resolved. Evidently, the senator was left unsatisfied and worked to keep the reform out of the appropriations package.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear that negotiations were sensitive around adding anything new to the spending bill, and drug policy reform suffered as a final deal was forged. In addition to the lack of SAFE Banking language, the legislation also omitted several other reform proposals that were attached<\/a> to spending measures approved in the House and Senate earlier this year. The final bill also maintains a rider that blocks Washington, D.C. from implementing a system of regulated cannabis commerce\u2014another major setback for advocates.<\/p>\n

The lack of SAFE Banking language leaves supporters with few legislative options\u2014and very little time\u2014to advance the reform during the final weeks of the lame duck. And advocates are still left waiting to see the final product of negotiations that Schumer is spearheading to create a package of incremental marijuana policy changes known as SAFE Plus that\u2019s expected to include banking and expungements provisions.<\/p>\n

Daines, the lead GOP sponsor of the SAFE Banking Act, decried its being left out of the appropriations measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe failure to pass my bipartisan \u2018SAFE Banking Act\u2019 means communities in Montana and across our country will remain vulnerable to crime where legal businesses are forced to operate in all-cash,\u201d he said in a press release. \u201cThis bill to promote public safety would have been well positioned to pass had it gone through the regular committee process\u2014as I called for more than a year ago. Our small businesses, law enforcement and communities deserve better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Schumer, most advocates will now look ahead to 2023 and the possibility of advancing the reform in a divided Congress.<\/p>\n

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) had signaled that\u00a0he viewed cannabis banking as a likely 2023 issue<\/a>, though a staffer said last week that he was still be open to passing it through the spending package if it contained broader provisions.<\/p>\n

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who will serve as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee in the next Congress, recently indicated that he similarly feels the issue\u00a0will need to be decided after the lame duck<\/a>. The congressman said that he remains opposed to SAFE Banking, but he left the door open to advancing it if that\u2019s the will of his Republican colleagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve pledged is having an open process. I told my members my view of it,\u201d he said. \u201cMembers are able to come to their own conclusion about the bill. It\u2019s so variable state by state.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) has also pinned blame on McConnell, saying that his vocal opposition to cannabis reform has had a chilling effect of GOP members who might otherwise be amenable to passing legislation that contains SAFE Banking language.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re dead set on anything in marijuana,\u201d he said, referring to Republican leadership. \u201cThat to me is the obstacle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe caucus is clearly divided but the people in power in their caucus are clearly against doing anything on marijuana,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, SAFE Banking sponsor Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said that he would \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

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VA Updating Medical Marijuana Directive For Veterans That\u2019s Expiring This Month, As Congress Pushes It To \u2018Not Interfere\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Photo courtesy of Senate Democrats<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Schumer Blames GOP For Marijuana Banking Failure, But Says He\u2019ll \u2018Go Back At It Next Year\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says that two top Republican senators re ultimately to blame for keeping marijuana banking out of a large-scale spending package that was released on Tuesday\u2014but he pledged to \u201cgo back at it next year.\u201d At a Democratic Senate leadership briefing on Tuesday, the majorityContinue 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\/59645"}],"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=59645"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59646,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59645\/revisions\/59646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}