As this Congress enters its final months, lawmakers warm to the idea of cannabis banking “plus.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer doesn’t have the votes to pass a sweeping marijuana decriminalization bill — despite repeatedly touting his support for ending federal prohibition.
That realization is leading Senate Democrats to look for a compromise on weed.
In interviews with more than a dozen lawmakers, staffers, advocates and lobbyists, all agreed that in recent weeks the tone has changed on Capitol Hill. Senators previously opposed to anything but a major marijuana decriminalization bill are slowly warming to another option: adding provisions to a broadly supported bill that would allow financial institutions to offer banking services to the cannabis industry, called the SAFE Banking Act.
The change in approach is driven in part by the fact that the clock is ticking on Democratic control of Congress — experts say the House will likely flip in November, and the Senate could join it. Despite the often-bipartisan nature of cannabis legislation, it does not enjoy strong support from GOP leadership in either chamber. So lawmakers involved in weed policy are looking more seriously at what they can accomplish in the last six months of this Congress.
“There’s a greater sense of urgency,” said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), who has been trying to shepherd cannabis legislation through Congress for decades.
“I think there’s a broader base of support.”
Tentative negotiations
Every lawmaker and staffer who spoke with POLITICO for this story said that there is, as of yet, no tangible legislative plan. Most described the conversations as merely testing the waters on what might be possible later on in the year.
Discussions have happened or are scheduled between Schumer and weed-friendly Republicans such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio). But Joyce told POLITICO earlier this month that his conversation with Schumer did not include any formal strategy or legislative plans. Right now, most of these talks are among Senate Democrats, who eventually want to agree on something they can propose to Republicans.
Some hope that a deal on cannabis — an issue that enjoys support from both sides of the aisle — could also ride the Senate’s current bipartisan wave. Democrats and Republicans in the upper chamber have recently reached agreements on thorny issues like gun control and insulin pricing.
“The discussion is about using SAFE as the nucleus of the thing, and [to] add some provisions that will be acceptable to Democrats and Republicans in the Senate,” said Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), the cosponsor of the bill in the House.
“It’s at its very early stages.”
They’re calling the potential package “SAFE Plus,” a term coined by Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the Democratic co-lead sponsor of the weed banking bill.
The most looming question is how to thread the needle between Republicans who want the banking bill to pass on its own and Democrats who won’t vote for it unless it comes with added criminal justice or social equity provisions.
Montana Sen. Steve Daines, the Republican co-lead sponsor of the banking legislation, has consistently opposed adding anything to the bill. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a key…
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