Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) this week blamed Republicans for preventing Congress from approving marijuana banking reform by opposing its inclusion in the omnibus spending bill that was unveiled on Tuesday. That was a pretty audacious excuse, since Schumer himself has a history of blocking the SAFE Banking Act, which would make it easier for state-licensed marijuana businesses to access financial services by removing the threat of civil, criminal, and regulatory penalties for banks that assist the cannabis industry.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R–Ark.) displayed a different kind of chutzpah yesterday when he single-handedly stopped the Senate from considering the EQUAL Act, which would eliminate the irrational penal distinction between the smoked and snorted versions of cocaine. That bill, like the SAFE Banking Act, was proposed as an addition to the catch-all spending package, an effort that was frustrated by Republican opposition. Sen. Cory Booker (D–N.J.) responded by seeking unanimous consent to release the stand-alone version of the EQUAL Act from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Cotton, a hardline prohibitionist who has never met a drug penalty he thought was too severe, objected.
