A bicameral congressional conference committee tasked with settling differences on a large-scale manufacturing bill kicked off negotiations on Thursday—and several appointed conferees from the House and Senate took the opportunity to push for marijuana banking reform as part of the package. At least seven members made a point to raise the cannabis issue as part of the discussion on the AMERICA Competes Act—most of them in a supportive way. That includes the conference committee co-chair, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA). Conferees emphasized the need to give state-legal marijuana businesses access to traditional financial services as a public safety imperative that could also bolster the economy. “This Congress has a chance to deal with several longstanding policy challenges,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) said. That includes “providing cannabis businesses with access to banking.” “It’s critical that the SAFE Banking Act be retained,” the congressman said, adding that there were three people killed in the chairwoman’s home state of Washington in the span of one week in incidents targeting marijuana businesses. “The SAFE Banking Act is an issue of public and worker safety,” he said. “It’s passed the House six times. I hope we work together to retain it because it is a matter of life and death.”
Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 05/12/2022 12:50:00