On Monday, the House passed the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act (H.R. 1966) by a vote of 321-101. The SAFE Banking Act would allow banks and financial institutions to legally work with cannabis businesses in states where marijuana is legalized. It also confirms that proceeds from legitimate cannabis businesses will not be considered illegal and directs federal regulators to craft rules for how they would supervise such banking activity. The legislation now heads to the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) has said it will receive a vote and has himself expressed his support for the bill on numerous occasions. However, even if the bill is able to pass the extremely slim margins of the Senate, President Biden has not yet committed to signing it into law. On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki declined to say whether President Biden would sign or veto a bill the bill, noting that his cannabis policy position is at odds with broader criminal justice proposals that congressional Democratic leaders are working on. White House Press Secretary Psaki states, “The president supports leaving decisions regarding legalization for recreational use up to the states, rescheduling cannabis as a Schedule II drug so researchers can study its positive and negative impacts and, at the federal level, he supports decriminalizing marijuana use and automatically expunging any prior criminal records.”
