GOP Leaders Blocked Schumer’s Push To Include Marijuana Banking Reform In Government Funding Bill, Senate Source Says

Republican House and Senate leadership “openly and solely blocked” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) attempt to include bipartisan marijuana banking legislation in a government funding bill, a Senate source familiar with the negotiations tells Marijuana Moment.

As bicameral lawmakers have worked to put together a continuing resolution to keep the government funded, Schumer repeatedly urged colleagues across the aisle to incorporate the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act, to no avail. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) killed that prospective deal, the source said.

“Schumer pushed for SAFER Banking at the negotiation table in the CR multiple times. This week, both Speaker Johnson and Leader McConnell strongly rejected it,” they said. “For years some Republicans have done a dance telling marijuana businesses that they supported SAFER, while Republican leadership has openly and solely blocked it at every turn.”

Marijuana Moment reached out to Johnson’s and McConnell’s offices for comment, but representatives were not immediately available.

The majority leader said following the election that he remained committed to moving the SAFER Banking Act during the lame duck session, and that he was eyeing the must-pass stopgap funding legislation to get that done.

Schumer could in theory still put the cannabis banking bill on the floor for Senate consideration as a standalone measure. But even if it did pass with the steep 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster in the chamber, the thinking is that it wouldn’t be worth the effort considering Johnson’s obstinance and unlikeliness to bring it to a vote in the House, the Senate source said.

Last month, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), the GOP lead sponsor of the SAFER Banking Act, told Politico that he wanted to see the measure “get done before the end of the year.” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) separately said he’s “hoping to get something done” on cannabis banking through the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), but that prospect is similarly in doubt.

Notably, a Republican senator, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), told AskAPol that he considers the SAFER Banking Act a “half-assed” measure that should simply be incorporated into legislation to create a comprehensive federal regulatory framework for marijuana.

Getting the banking reform enacted during the lame duck could be pivotal following last month’s election that put Republicans back in the Senate majority at the same time that they held onto the House. Sen. John Thune (R-SD) was elected by his peers to serve as majority leader, and he’s opposed to the cannabis banking bill, further complicating its pathway to passage under the next Congress.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Democratic sponsor of the banking bill, separately told Marijuana Moment in September that it’s “great” and “helpful” that President-elect Donald Trump came out in support of the reform—though he said the pathway to passage in the chamber is still unclear.

Meanwhile, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) also challenged the idea that there’s enough GOP support for the SAFER Banking Act to pass on the Senate floor during the lame duck session.

Warren accused certain Republican members of overstating support for the legislation within their caucus, while also taking a hit at Trump for doing “nothing” on cannabis reform during his time in office as he makes a policy pivot ahead of the election by coming out in support of the marijuana banking bill and federal rescheduling.

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) also recently argued in an interview with Marijuana Moment that the main barrier to getting the marijuana banking bill across the finish line is a lack of sufficient Republican support in the chamber. And he said if Trump is serious about seeing the reform he recently endorsed enacted, he needs to “bring us some Republican senators.”

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Many would like to see a Senate roll call vote on the bill before the end of this Congress—at the very least so members are forced to go on the record amid conflicting reports about whether it has enough support to reach the steep 60-vote threshold to advance to passage. But if it were to fail, some feel that setback could prove all the more damaging to its long-term prospects of success.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, said in a letter to the House speaker that the cannabis banking bill is one example of a measure that should be brought to the floor imminently following Trump’s statement of support, as well as recent reporting about unearthed audio where former President Richard Nixon could be heard conceding that cannabis is “not particularly dangerous.”

“I would suggest moving policies that, instead of further dividing us, makes a difference for the American people, including for our veterans, law enforcement, small businesses, and more,” the congressman, who is retiring at the end of this Congress, said. “It’s never too late to do the right thing.”

Prior to becoming speaker, Johnson consistently opposed cannabis reform, including on incremental issues like cannabis banking and making it easier to conduct scientific research on the plant.

Meanwhile, on the one-year anniversary of a Senate committee’s passage of the SAFER Banking Act in September, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis on the economic impact of the reform, including the likely increase in federally insured deposits from cannabis businesses by billions of dollars once banks receive protections for servicing the industry.

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Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.