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Lawmakers face closing window to pass landmark bipartisan marijuana bill

Lawmakers are facing a rapidly closing window to get key marijuana legislation across the finish line in the lame-duck session.

Despite fetching broad bipartisan support in the House and Senate, opposition from GOP leadership and a tightening timeline is chipping away at the bill’s chances of passage.

The measure, called the SAFE Banking Act, would undo federal restrictions that discourage banks and other financial institutions from offering services to legally operating cannabis businesses.

Supporters say the bill is desperately needed to crack down on persistent robberies of cannabis businesses, which are forced to carry huge amounts of cash, as well as make it easier for those companies to secure loans at reasonable rates.

But with little legislative time left on the calendar, supporters of the bill, which has passed the House seven times, are divided over how to pass it before January. And they fear it’s even less likely to pass in a divided Congress.

“We still got amendments on the floor. We still got a continuing resolution,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who has also been leading efforts pushing the bill in the upper chamber, told The Hill on Wednesday. “We may have an omnibus. Not giving up on this Congress.”

[Read more at The Hill]
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