Congressmember Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, says there’s enough votes in the House of Representatives to pass a federal marijuana banking act, saying that if Republicans want to keep the House they’ll pass it before the election.
The SAFE Banking Act would allow banks and other financial institutions to provide banking services to state-legal marijuana businesses. In the House, the measure has 112 sponsors, more than any other marijuana-related bill in US Congress. In the Senate, the updated SAFER Banking Act has 36 sponsors, and it was was passed through the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with bipartisan support in September. Last month Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said it’s a key priority of the Senate to pass the SAFER Banking Act this year.
Yesterday, in an interview on The Dales Report’s Trade To Black podcast, Rep. Mace said “I support SAFE 100 percent, [and] I would love to see [Schumer] move it forward.”
Mace said “I can tell you that Republicans that represent purple districts overwhelmingly support SAFE – and then some. So if Republicans want to keep the House, it’s a good bill to have on the floor. Conservatives can vote no all day long. The rest of us can vote for our districts, which would be to support SAFE, and there are votes in the House to pass SAFE.”
Mace continues by saying “It’s just a matter of what the leadership will allow to the floor. I overwhelmingly support it, as do a number of of Republicans that represent purple swingish districts like ours”.
According to polling released earlier this week, “by a greater than a 3-to-1 margin (63% support vs. 17% oppose) U.S. adults support Congress passing legislation that allows cannabis businesses to access banking services and financial products like checking accounts and business loans in states where cannabis is now legal”.
