Marijuana banking will follow major budget bill, Congress promises

Congress will return to long-awaited, key marijuana industry priorities such as banking protections in the fall, according to Washington insiders.

“In my mind, we have a really, really good opportunity to get SAFE Banking done during this Congress,” David Culver, the senior vice president of the U.S. Cannabis Roundtable, a major Washington lobby group, told MJBizDaily on Thursday.

“It’s the best opportunity we’ve ever had.”

But SAFER Banking will have to wait until after Congress passes President Donald Trump’s prized One Big Beautiful Bill Act, lawmakers and lobbyists agree.

Marijuana banking reform ‘hopefully in the fall’

But Congress has more important priorities before it can turn to cannabis, Ohio Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno said last week.

The freshman senator, whose state launched adult-use marijuana sales in August 2024, is the lead Republican sponsor of the Senate’s version of the marijuana banking protections bill.

He told Marijuana Moment that SAFER Banking will return to active consideration, “hopefully in the fall.”

Most all other business in Congress is on hold as GOP lawmakers squabble over Trump’s enormous tax and immigration bill.

Senate Republican leaders have pledged to put the Big Beautiful Bill on Trump’s desk by the July 4 holiday.

But that picture became more complicated Thursday, when House Republicans vowed to oppose significant changes made by the Senate.

“Our red line hasn’t changed,” said U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, R-Maryland, who also chairs the far-right House Freedom Caucus, according to the Washington Post.

“It has to conform to the House framework, and it doesn’t.”

If Big Beautiful Bill negotiations drag on longer than planned, other congressional business is likely to be delayed.

Harris is also the author of a spending bill that redefines hemp under federal law in a move to ban hemp-derived THC products as well as THCA flower.

The hemp THC ban’s chances are considered slim given likely opposition from Republican lawmakers representing states with sizable hemp industries.

That includes Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott recently vetoed a bill to ban that state’s estimated $5.5 billion hemp industry.

Focus on banking after rescheduling stalemate

Industry lobbyists considered marijuana banking protections the top priority on Capitol Hill before the Biden administration decided in October 2022 to reschedule marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

Moving marijuana from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 of the CSA grants plant-touching businesses immediate tax relief – something banking protections do not do, observers have said.

But with the rescheduling process in limbo, there’s renewed focus on banking for the cannabis industry.

Banking reform has passed a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives multiple times but has yet to pass the Senate.

Passing even modest marijuana reform is still considered a prerequisite to tackling tougher issues such as interstate commerce or regulating all forms of THC under one unified policy.

SAFER Banking “opens the door up to future discussion of other financial services the industry is in desperate need of, as well as other reform efforts too,” the U.S. Cannabis Roundtable’s Culver said.

Chris Roberts can be reached at chris.roberts@mjbizdaily.com.