Marijuana banking reform will not be included in a large-scale manufacturing bill that’s being negotiated in a bicameral conference committee, congressional leaders from both parties have agreed.
In the interest of getting the larger legislation passed more expediently before the August recess, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) met this week to scale the bill down.
That included ceding to a Republican demand to keep the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act out of the legislation, Punchbowl News first reported on Thursday.
It was never a guarantee that the cannabis banking bill would make it into the America COMPETES/USICA conference report, despite the House including it in its version before heading to conference. Schumer, for his part, has repeatedly suggested he is uncomfortable moving the narrow financial reform ahead of broader justice-focused cannabis legalization, and his office had tempered expectations about the possibility of SAFE being enacted through the manufacturing bill early on in the bicameral talks.
Lead SAFE Banking Act sponsor Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) reacted strongly to the news that bicameral leaders had agreed to keep his legislation from advancing yet again.
“The Senate continues to ignore the public safety risk of forcing cannabis businesses to deal in all cash,” he told Marijuana Moment. “In the wake…
