Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer (DNY) said lawmakers would “hit the ground” running in 2024. He aimed to build on progress made by both parties on several issues, such as marijuana banking reform, though he acknowledged it “wouldn’t be an easy task.”
Schumer, who is the Senate’s Minority Leader, delivered a speech to the Senate on Wednesday, praising the 2023 legislative accomplishments of the chamber, but also stating that there’s “a lot more we need to do” during the second half the 118th Congress.
Schumer stated that Senators made “large progress in a partisan way” on new parts to our agenda. He added that this bipartisanship would be “essential in the event of a divided government,” in order to pass other priority legislation, such as the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation Banking Act (SAFER), which stalled in the past year after cleared the Senate Banking Committee in September .
He listed “SAFE banking and cannabis reform” along with other top priorities for 2024 such as boosting economic competitiveness in China, promoting rail safety, and addressing issues of youth privacy online.
View the video below to hear the speech of the majority leader on the legislative priorities for 2024.
Schumer stated that “we have done some groundwork in each of these areas with bipartisan support.” “It will not be easy but we are determined to accomplish these goals by 2024.”
He stressed, however, that “bipartisan cooperation” is critical with a Democratic-controlled Senate and GOP majority House. This dynamic also played a role in the SAFER Banking Act and contributed to the delay of its consideration by the Senate.
Schumer has repeatedly stated his intention to move forward with the incremental reform. Previous versions have been approved by the House in various forms seven times during the recent session. Even though bipartisan Senators negotiated a new version of the bill that passed through the Banking Committee in the summer, it did not reach the floor as planned by the leader.
The problem stemmed from the fact that Republicans and Democrats were in constant disagreement about certain sections of the SAFER Banking Act. This was particularly true of a section on banking regulations that Republicans members favored. The lawmakers were also forced to consolidate the work they had planned for 2023 due to timing constraints.
As Schumer noted in his latest floor speech, any legislation that is passed in a divided Congress will require bipartisan cooperation. The marijuana banking bill’s prospects became murkier in the House in the fall, amid a leadership change which led to the ouster then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who had supported the modest reform.
He said that because the GOP House refused to “embrace the bipartisanship” it became “the most unproductive and dysfunctional house in modern history.” This dysfunction, he added, “can be reduced to three words: Chaos, extremism, parlysis.”
Schumer, the majority leader, said last month that the delay was due to a lack of GOP support in his chamber. This claim has been disputed by the Republican sponsor Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), who has repeatedly argued the votes for passage are already there. The majority leader claimed last month that the delay was due to a lack of GOP support in the chamber. This claim has been disputed by Republican sponsor Sen. Steve Daines, R-MT. Daines maintains the necessary votes are there.
Daines suggested that at this point, the most important question is if the measure has the support needed to pass in the House. In October, he said that the Senate was working with its House counterparts to “get alignment between both chambers.”
It’s likely that the SAFER Banking Act will be amended if it makes it to the Senate floor in the coming year. Schumer, for example, has talked about the “moral obligation” to further amend it in order to include provisions on state-legal marijuana expungements and guns rights for cannabis users.
Newly released survey data shows that 71 per cent of top Capitol Hill employees believe it is “unlikely that lawmakers will pass any kind of cannabis reform including the banking legislation” in the 118th Congress, which ends at this time next year.
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The post Schumer Says Marijuana Banking Is Among Senate 2024 Priorities But Recognizes It “Won’t be Easy” first appeared on Marijuana Minute.
