A large-scale defense bill that advocates had hoped would serve as a vehicle to enact marijuana banking and expungements reform does not include any cannabis language following bipartisan and bicameral negotiations.
At the same time, details about the so-called SAFE Plus package that lawmakers have been negotiating are emerging, including the potential inclusion of language on gun rights for marijuana consumers. The deal could still advance as part of separate omnibus appropriations legislation, or even as a standalone, before the end of the year.
Talks over SAFE Plus have been intensifying in recent weeks, and they were complicated in part by a Justice Department memo to senators outlining concerns about marijuana banking reform that sources told Marijuana Moment have since been resolved. Key GOP senators met with DOJ to discuss the issues on Monday, Politico reported.
While hopes were high that lawmakers would seek to attach the cannabis proposals to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), pushback from certain GOP lawmakers derailed that plan ahead of a scheduled House Rules Committee meeting on Monday.
House lawmakers delayed consideration of NDAA in that committee amid reported disagreements over unrelated provisions that deal with the repeal of the vaccine mandate for military
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