The House Appropriations Committee has voted to remove provisions from a massive spending bill that would have allowed Washington, D.C. to open recreational marijuana stores and permitted banks to work with state-legal marijuana businesses.
Earlier this month, the House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Subcommittee released its Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Services and General Government Bill. Included in the measure was a provision to remove a long-standing federal restriction preventing Washington, D.C. from allowing legal recreational marijuana sales, despite the district legalizing them in 2014. The bill also included a provision to allow nationwide marijuana banking.
Today, the House Appropriations Committee voted to remove both provisions from the FSGG Bill.
Both provisions were sponsored by Republican Congressmember Dave Joyce, co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus and chair of the Appropriations FSGG Subcommittee. Joyce expressed his disappointment following the vote but stated he plans to find alternative vehicles to get his two provisions enacted into law.
Joyce’s provision allowing marijuana banking shares similarities with the SAFE and SAFER Banking Acts. The SAFE Banking Act has 123 bipartisan sponsors in the House of Representatives, with the SAFER Banking Act having 36 sponsors in the Senate.
For more information on the spending bill, click here.
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