No marijuana banking protections from current Congress

The current session of Congress is poised to end without any progress on major marijuana reform measures, including banking protections.

With Congress needing to pass a spending bill by the end of the week to avoid a partial government shutdown, a budget proposal was unveiled late Tuesday that included disaster aid and cash for farmers.

But the plan offered nothing pertaining to the $32 billion state-regulated marijuana industry.

That inaction brought to fruition marijuana industry predictions to MJBizDaily in November “to not expect anything of the lame-duck” Congress this year.

Importance of marijuana banking services

For years, cannabis advocates have begged Congress to provide clear protections for financial institutions that provide banking services to state-regulated marijuana businesses.

While many cannabis businesses have bank accounts, most major financial institutions do not provide services to the marijuana industry.

That creates more costs and more complications for an already overburdened legal industry.

And then came the proposed spending bill with no provisions for the marijuana industry.

Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer foreshadowed that result, claiming in a Dec. 10 post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Republican leadership was “blocking my push” to tuck cannabis banking into any last-minute spending measure.

That same blame game played out two years ago, when a similar lame-duck push in Congress to squeeze banking into either a budget a defense-spending bill also failed.

Then and now, some Democrats blamed opposition from Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, a staunch opponent of marijuana reform.

Cannabis stakeholders ‘disappointed’ by Congress

However, frustrated cannabis advocates say there is plenty of blame to go around for the stalemate.

“It’s an understatement to say we’re disappointed by the 118th Congress,” David Culver, the senior vice president for public affairs at the U.S. Cannabis Council, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group, said in a statement.

Industry advocates hope that incoming President Donald Trump follows supportive words for marijuana rescheduling with action.

“With a supportive president,” Culver said, “the pending reclassification to Schedule III, and strong support from key congressional Republicans, we are hopeful that we can break the logjam and make significant progress toward our goal of federal legalization and the protection of public safety that comes with it.”