A Democratic congresswoman is criticizing the exclusion of provisions to protect banks that work with state-licensed marijuana and hemp businesses from a key spending bill that advanced this week.
During a House Appropriations Committee markup of the legislation covering Financial Service and General Government (FSGG) on Wednesday, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) said she was “disappointed” about the cannabis policy omissions.
“Without this common sense legislation, which has been included in past bills, this bill fails to ensure that all businesses have access to financial services,” she said.
While Minnesota recently legalized adult-use marijuana, McCollum focused her comments largely on hemp, which was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.
“The hemp [industry] in the past six years—and across the country, in Minnesota—have rebuilt a domestic supply chain of hemp and hemp products,” the congresswoman said.
Notably, while she advocated for hemp and cannabis industry banking access, McCollum also voiced support for her colleague Rep. Andy Harris’s (R-MD) work on the issue. Harris has sought to enact a sweeping ban on intoxicating cannabinoid products derived from hemp which make up a sizable portion of the market.
“Hemp is used in a variety of projects, textiles, paper, cardboard, alternatives, construction of concrete,
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