Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) held a second meeting on marijuana legislation for the new Congress on Tuesday—and this time, he convened a group of GOP senators to discuss next steps for crafting a passable bill, Senate sources tell Marijuana Moment.
The first meeting took place at the beginning of the month with Democratic colleagues. Now the majority leader has brought Republican members into the fold, including Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK).
The purpose of these latest conversations is to determine where lawmakers can find bipartisan consensus on legislative objectives for cannabis reform in the 118th Congress, which now has Republicans in control of the House while Democrats retain their Senate majority.
One source confirmed to Marijuana Moment that marijuana banking was a key issue that the senators discussed.
Advocates are hoping to see collaboration around a set of marijuana proposals known colloquially as SAFE Plus, which Schumer worked to advance up until the final days of the last session. That package was expected to cover cannabis banking and expungements, among other possible modest reforms.
All three of the GOP senators who participated in Tuesday’s meeting signed on as original cosponsors of the
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