A key congressman involved in bicameral negotiations on a large-scale manufacturing bill says he’s optimistic about the prospects of including marijuana banking reform in the final version of the legislation that gets signed into law. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), a longstanding champion of cannabis legalization who is serving as a conferee on the America COMPETES Act, talked about the state of play and steps he’s taking to secure the banking language during a press briefing on Monday. He said that there is a concerted effort among conferees in both chambers to make sure that the House-passed Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act is attached to the final conference report that’s sent to the president’s desk. And while Senate leadership has yet to cede the issue, he’s confident that the bicameral panel will seal the deal. “There is a strong base support among the conferees for keeping this [marijuana banking] language and enacting it,” he said. “We think that this is a perfect opportunity to get some actual movement on this.” “We’ve got a vehicle that needs to be acted upon relatively soon.
Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 05/16/2022 16:51:00