A Democratic senator unsuccessfully attempted to attach a key provision of a marijuana banking bill—but not one that would’ve actually helped the cannabis industry access financial services—to a broader bill focused on the problem of debanking.
Jack Reed, D-RI, filed an amendment at a Senate Banking Committee meeting on Thursday to include Section 10 of Secure and Fair Enforcer Regulation Banking Act (SAFER), which was the underlying Financial Integrity and Regulation Management Act (FIRM). The panel had been considering this act.
SAFER Banking Act’s main goal is to prevent federal regulators penalizing financial institution for only working with cannabis industry. Section 10 will not achieve this on its own; it is a broad measure that aims to stop banking regulators targeting controversial businesses, such as the gun industry.
Reed explained that this amendment, “would put guardrails in place around regulators’ usage of reputational risk without eliminating the idea entirely,” adding that it “prevents the debanking process responsibly”.
You can watch the SAFER Banking Act discussion starting at around 3:00.58.
It was defeated by 13 votes to 11 on a strictly party line basis. For advocates and stakeholders it’s a greater disappointment that Reed or any member of the committee, from either side, did not seek to include the entire cannabis banking bill in the FIRM Act. This is especially disappointing given the recent discussion about the relevance of this legislation to debanking.
Don Murphy, the co-founder and CEO of American Cannabis Collective told MEDCAN24 that he was disappointed by the fact no SAFE Banking Amendments were offered to the very important legislation. He also expressed disappointment in those industry supporters who didn’t push for it. Why weren’t the industry advocates in the room?
The number of modifications offered is staggering. @SenateDems Stablecoin and no bill #SAFEBanking. It’s fine when we go out swinging but we do it too much. Disappointing!
— Don Murphy (@donmurphy12a) March 13, 2025
It is frustrating that marijuana banking reform was not passed during the previous session when Democrats were in charge of both the Senate & House of Representatives. It was not brought up for a vote by the Senate Banking Committee. The earlier versions of the SAFER Banking Act have been passed by the House several times.
Last month, on the House side of things, a Republican legislator said that he is hopeful Congress can get the marijuana banking legislation across the “finish line” in this session. The Republican claimed that the barriers that currently exist for financial services within the cannabis industry represents a “second level” of prohibition.
Cannabis industry banking challenges also came up in several congressional hearings last month, including a Senate Banking Committee meeting on debanking where senators on both sides of the aisle addressed the lack of financial services access for marijuana businesses.
A GOP member at that hearing suggested the need for a more comprehensive examination of cannabis policy in federal government.
The Brookings Institution’s Aaron Klein also briefly addressed the cannabis banking issue at the hearing after submitting written testimony where he recommended that the committee “either combine SAFE Banking with broader [suspicious activity reports, or SARs] Reform or enhance SAFE Banking if you want to fix the issues with SARs being filed against state-licensed marijuana businesses”
Meanwhile, congressional researchers recently released a report detailing the subject of debanking—while making a point to address how the marijuana industry’s financial services access problem “sits at the nexus” of a state-federal policy conflict that complicates the debate.
While the SAFE Banking Act to address the issue is expected to be filed again this session—that introduction is “not imminent” as some recent reports have suggested, a spokesperson for the GOP House sponsor of the last version told MEDCAN24 in January.
Staffer Dave Joyce’s (R-OH), said, “While an introduction date is not imminent we will have a better idea of the timing in the coming weeks.”
With Republicans now in control of the House and Senate—and leadership having historically opposed even modest cannabis legislation, including the banking bill—there are open questions about the prospects of advancing marijuana reform this session.
Some are still hopeful that the measure allowing cannabis companies to access banking services will be passed, particularly after President Donald Trump endorsed the idea on his campaign trail.
Separately, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced in December that it’s convening focus groups comprised of marijuana businesses to better understand their experiences with access to banking services under federal prohibition.
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A Senate source told MEDCAN24 in December that Republican House and Senate leadership “openly and solely blocked” then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) attempt to include the bill in a government funding bill as the session came to a close.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) had challenged the idea that there was enough GOP support for the SAFER Banking Act to pass on the Senate floor during the lame duck session.
Warren accused certain Republican members of overstating support for the legislation within their caucus, while also taking a hit at Trump for doing “nothing” on cannabis reform during his time in office as he makes a policy pivot ahead of the election by coming out in support of the marijuana banking bill and federal rescheduling.
In an interview given to MEDCAN24, Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado argued that the lack of Republican support was the biggest obstacle in getting the marijuana bank bill passed. And he said if Trump is serious about seeing the reform he recently endorsed enacted, he needs to “bring us some Republican senators.”
Prior to becoming House speaker, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) consistently opposed cannabis reform, including on incremental issues like cannabis banking and making it easier to conduct scientific research on the plant.
Meanwhile, on the one-year anniversary of a Senate committee’s passage of the SAFER Banking Act in September, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis on the economic impact of the reform, including the likely increase in federally insured deposits from cannabis businesses by billions of dollars once banks receive protections for servicing the industry.
Separately, the CEO of the financial giant JPMorgan Chase said recently that the company “probably would” start providing banking services to marijuana businesses if federal law changed to permit it.
Two Months Into New Congress, Bipartisan Marijuana Leaders Have Yet To Even Meet As Psychedelics Caucus Sees ‘Momentum’
Mike Latimer is the photographer.
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