The Trump administration’s top fiscal official appeared on Tuesday to voice support for letting marijuana businesses store their profits in banks.
“I assure you that we don’t want bags of cash,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin testified during an appearance before the House Financial Services Committee. “We want to make sure that we can collect our necessary taxes and other things.”
Mnuchin, in a series of responses to questions from lawmakers who raised concerns about the public safety implications of preventing cannabis businesses from accessing banks and forcing them to operate on an all-cash basis, said the Treasury Department is currently considering how to deal with the issue.
In 2014, under the Obama administration, the department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued guidance that has allowed banks to open accounts for marijuana growers, processors and retailers without running afoul of federal regulators.
But last month, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded a broader policy from the former administration that had generally cleared the way for states to implement their own cannabis laws without Justice Department interference. Sessions’ move has led to fears that the Trump administration may tear up the banking memo as well.
Last week, a top Treasury official wrote in a letter to lawmakers that the department is “consulting with law enforcement” about whether to maintain the guidance for depository institutions. Last month, a Mnuchin deputy testified at a Senate hearing that the banking document remains in effect while the administration weighs whether to revoke it.
At the Tuesday hearing, Mnuchin confirmed that the department is “reviewing the existing guidance.” But he clarified that he doesn’t want to rescind it without having an alternate policy in place to address public safety concerns.
“The intent is not to take it down without a replacement that can deal with the current situation,” he said.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) told Mnuchin that simply deleting the banking memo “would really make it better for armed robbers in my community, because there’d be huge amounts of cash at the local marijuana dispensary.”
Reps. Denny Heck (D-WA) and Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) also raised questions about the issue.
“We specifically haven’t taken it down,” Mnuchin said of the 2014 memo. “We are looking at what Justice has done. And again, as I said, we’re sensitive to the issue of dealing with the public safety issue and also making sure that the IRS and others have ways of collecting taxes without taking in cash.”
In response to comments about pending congressional legislation to address cannabis businesses’ access to financial services, Mnuchin pledged to consult with White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, who as a member of Congress previously sponsored a similar bill.
Perlmutter’s legislation on the issue currently has 78 co-sponsors, and a companion Senate version has 14 senators signed on. Bipartisan groups of House and Senate lawmakers have also sent letters to the administration urging that the banking guidance be maintained.
During the hearing, Mnuchin also appeared to confirm a Reuters report that FinCEN was not consulted in advance about Sessions’ decision to change federal marijuana enforcement policy.
“I did not participate in the attorney general’s decision and what he did, but we are consulting with them now,” he said. “We do want to find a solution to make sure that businesses that have large access to cash have a way to get them into a depository institution for it to be safe.”
The FinCEN policy, which requires financial institutions to regularly file reports on their cannabis customers, was intended to provide clarity and assurances to banks, but many have remained reluctant to work with marijuana businesses because of overarching federal prohibition.
Nonetheless, documents released by FinCEN late last year showed that the number of banks willing to work with the marijuana industry has steadily grown over time, though those figures were collected prior to Sessions’ move to revoke the broader Justice Department guidance.
Prior to his being confirmed by the Senate last year , Mnuchin said in response to written questions from a senator that marijuana businesses’ banking and tax issues are “very important.”
