Yahoo Finance One lawmaker's crusade to legalize cannabis banking in the US
Cannabis companies have long had a problem with banking in the U.S. They may be legal in certain states, but they can’t access many financial services because federal law outlaws marijuana.
The situation has hampered the industry, and a fix called the SAFE Banking Act has stalled for years. If passed, that bill would bar federal banking regulators from punishing financial institutions for providing services to a "legitimate" cannabis-related business.
U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) has led the effort in the House to pass the SAFE Banking Act five separate times, only to see the Senate block it each time.
On Friday, Perlmutter appeared on Yahoo Finance Live to discuss effort number six and explained the political dynamics that have stymied his efforts ever since Colorado legalized marijuana in 2012. Early efforts were thwarted when figures like Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), then Senate Banking Committee Chair, raised various objections in 2019, citing the potency of marijuana and the possibility the bill could facilitate money laundering.
“I passed it first...when the Republicans were in charge of the Senate and Senator Crapo at that time, basically said the bill was too big and too broad,” Perlmutter said.
Most of those concerns have been allayed, but now Perlmutter is facing pushback from fellow Democrats — including Senators Chuck Schumer and Cory Booker, who are instead focused on comprehensive cannabis reform.
"From Schumer and Booker's point of view, the bill is too limited and too narrow,” Perlmutter says.
Booker wants to solve the banking problem by legalizing marijuana at the federal level. In the past, the New Jersey senator has vowed he “will lay myself down” to block efforts to pass the marijuana banking legislation before larger cannabis reform.
Republicans have also pushed for legalization, with Rep. Nancy Mace (R., S.C.) leading one effort. “The only place this is controversial is in Washington, D.C.,” she has told Yahoo Finance in the past.
For his part, Perlmutter supports a broader bill but also wants to pass a law addressing the banking issue this year. “If they could add research, if they could add some criminal justice reform, if they could add taxation components, I'm all for it,” Perlmutter said. “But we need to get something passed and on to the president this year.”
Industry analysts, like Barclays, have said that they don’t see cannabis being legalized under the Biden administration. Perlmutter agrees that there aren't enough votes in the Senate currently for a broader bill.
However, he often notes that a bipartisan group of lawmakers support the banking provisions and says his bill, if passed, can “break the ice” towards larger efforts.
Ben Werschkul is a writer and producer for Yahoo Finance in Washington, DC.
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