Politics
Senators Disagree On Whether Trump Rescheduling Marijuana Would Get Industry Banking Bill Across The Finish Line
Bipartisan senators tell Marijuana Moment that they remain eager to advance a marijuana banking bill—though there’s disagreement about whether a decision from President Donald Trump to reschedule cannabis would open the door to passing additional reforms in Congress.
In a series of interviews on Thursday, Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT), Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) were asked about the pending rescheduling proposal that Trump said in late August would be decided on within weeks. They were also pressed on the potential impact of that policy change on congressional attitudes toward other cannabis legislation that’s so far stalled, including the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act.
Daines, who’s been the lead GOP sponsor of that banking measure in past sessions, said he’s “not sure absolutely” whether moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) would meaningfully affect how his colleagues approach the financial services legislation. He said “many senators hold strong opinions,” and “they keep those opinions separate from SAFE Banking.”
“I’m not a fan of recreational marijuana. I voted against it in Montana, but it passed. But I definitely support SAFE Banking and taking that cash off the streets, and put it into banks,” Daines said. “It’s the right thing to do.”
Rescheduling would not federally legalize cannabis, but it would recognize its medical value, lift certain research barriers associated with Schedule I drugs and allow marijuana businesses to take federal tax deductions they’ve been barred from under the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code known as 280E.
“I’m going to stay out of it,” Daines said of the broader marijuana policy debate, “but I’m still solidly behind SAFE Banking.”
Sullivan, for his part, said he’s “not tracking” developments on rescheduling, and he suggested that his constituents have not been especially vocal in their outreach to his office about the issue.
“My view is we have to just [pass] the Banking Act,” he said. “I mean, that’s the one that’s got a lot of bipartisan support.”
Asked about rescheduling prospects, Wyden said he’s “working on it” and “pushing” the administration to see the policy change through.
Unlike Daines, Wyden said rescheduling would send a “huge message” to his colleagues about the need to “finally come up with a modern approach” to marijuana laws.
“I’d like it a lot. I mean, it would set up the path to getting into a store and all the areas where there’s consumer demand,” he said, adding that Trump has “been all over the map on this, but I hope he’ll want to help work out the market.”
“There are a lot of senators that are ready for it,” he said.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) told AskAPol last month that he did feel that Trump advancing rescheduling would be an “important domino” to advance the bipartisan cannabis banking legislation.
The senator, who is expected to be the lead sponsor of the legislation this Congress, previously said that the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act would be taken up this fall.
“We’re still seeing what we can do to get it done in Q4,” Moreno said. “As you know, the Democrats give us a lot of stuff to do. We have to fund the government, we have to get [the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA] across the finish line. We’ve gotta get [Trump’s judicial nominations] done.”
Whether Trump ultimately decides to move forward with rescheduling remains to be seen. Despite his endorsement of rescheduling on the campaign trail ahead of his election for a second term, he declined to restate that support when asked about it during a briefing in August—though he did say a decision would come within weeks.
Trump did also voice support for allowing marijuana industry banking access on the campaign trail during his second term, but he’s been publicly silent on that issue since the election.
Separately, the president last month posted a video on his Truth Social platform promoting the health benefits of cannabis—suggesting that covering CBD under Medicare would be “the most important senior health initiative of the century.”
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Meanwhile, during a House Appropriations Committee markup last month, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) criticized the exclusion of provisions to protect banks that work with state-licensed marijuana and hemp businesses from a key spending bill.
Relatedly, a bipartisan coalition of 32 state and territory attorneys general from across the U.S. recently called on Congress to pass a marijuana banking bill to free up financial services access for licensed cannabis businesses.
The Democratic Senate sponsor of the marijuana banking bill in past sessions, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), recently said that, despite efforts to coordinate meetings around the legislation, other priorities have taken precedence for now.
In January, the office of Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), who is again leading the effort on the House, told Marijuana Moment that he would be filing the cannabis banking legislation this session but that its introduction was “not imminent” as some earlier reports had suggested.
The LCB contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.
