WASHINGTON–It isn’t just credit unions concerned about legislation they oppose being attached to the GENIUS Act.
As the CU Daily has been reporting, credit unions and other financial institution trade groups are unhappy that the Credit Card Competition Act—which would drive down interchange revenue—has been attached to the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act in the Senate.
But the cannabis and anti-cannabis movements are also worried that legislation each opposes—an amendment that would prohibit pro-pot legislation from being passed in Congress, or the pro-pot amendment–could also be tagged onto the STABLE Act.
Alarm Raised
The cannabis industry is calling on its grassroots to contact their respective legislators to ensure to oppose any move to attach any amendment backed by Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) Action. The alert was raised after SAM sent a message to its constituency stating, “The pot industry and its lobbyists are always working to attach pro-marijuana bills to any piece of legislation that advances through Congress,” according to Marijuana Moment. SAM wants any such amendment stopped before it’s ever attached to the Act.
SAM said it wants to ensure marijuana remains illegal at the federal level and prohibits banks from accepting “federally illegal proceeds…This would mean exponential growth for the marijuana industry, making it harder to defeat.”
‘Risks Involved’
“There are number of risks involved with giving banking access to businesses involved in the trade of a federally illegal substance including giving money laundering access to international drug cartels who are already using the cover of legalization, radically increasing Wall Street investment for the marijuana industry, and providing a precedent for giving banking access to other criminal activity,” SAM added.
But Marijuana Moment reported it spoke to a marijuana industry lobbyist who said he is aware of any plan to use the GENIUS Act as a vehicle for SAFE Banking. SAFE Banking would remove federal prohibitions on cannabis and serving cannabis companies. That legislation has the backing of credit unions.