Guns + Grass = Gridlock

The House and Senate don’t deal with social issues effectively.

Hell, the House and Senate don’t deal with anything effectively.

But guns, drugs, abortion, prayer in school and other such hot-button social issues seldom result in good legislation, and the measures related to them usually die.

And unfortunately for their supporters, two pieces of legislation produced by the banking committees this year may suffer the same fate.

First, grass.

The House Financial Services Committee recently approved legislation that would provide financial institutions, including credit unions, with a safe harbor to allow them to deal with cannabis-related businesses in states where marijuana is legal.

Several House Republicans raised objections to the measure and voted against it.

But the committee is now controlled by Democrats. And not just any Democrats, but some of the most progressive members in the House.

So, the committee had no problems approving the legislation, particularly since some Republicans supported it as well.

Longtime sponsor Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Calif.) was so thrilled about the approval that House Financial Services Chairman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) gave him permission to dance in the aisles.

I’m not making that up.

Ah, but if you remember “How a Bill Becomes a Law” from “School House Rock,” you know that once the bill passes the House, it goes to the Senate.

There, it’s probably not going to receive such a friendly reception.

To put it bluntly, Senate Republicans have never been high on this bill.

They’ve kept it from going to the floor as an attachment to various legislative vehicles during the past few years.

Senate Republican leaders are likely to defer to the Banking Committee on this measure.

Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo is an Idaho Republican. The second-most senior Republican on the committee is Richard Shelby of Alabama.

Look up conservative in the dictionary and you’ll find their pictures.

These are not the kind of guys you would have found at a Grateful Dead concert 40 years ago.

And so, another social issue may get hung up.

Second, there’s guns. Two Banking Committee Republicans, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota and John Kennedy of Louisiana, introduced this bill.

As explained by Kennedy, the measure would “ban big banks from refusing to do business with customers that may not share the same political values as the bank.”

You notice Kennedy did not use a certain four-letter word in describing the measure.

Guns.

The legislation is intended to make sure that big banks and credit unions can’t simply decide not to do business with gun-related businesses.

Now, the Banking Committee may approve the bill since it’s controlled by Republicans. And it may well pass the Senate.

But presumably House Democrats are likely to defer to the Financial Services Committee leaders for their recommendation on the bill.

The Chairwoman of the Financial Services Committee, of course, is Waters. And its senior Democrats are Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Nydia Velázquez, both of New York.

So, the Financial Services Committee majority probably won’t like the Kennedy-Cramer bill.

As a matter of fact, Republicans on the Financial Services Committee tried to tack the gun-banking legislation onto the marijuana banking bill. They said that could gain some Republican support for the cannabis proposal.

Or, it could cause some Democrats to vote against the marijuana measure because it contained the gun proposal.

The result of all this legislative maneuvering may well be that once again, Congress will deadlock on thorny social issues, such as guns and grass.

It will give the House and Senate time to tackle the really tough things they’re best at.

Like naming post offices.

You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide

When we last visited the Community Financial Services Association of America, members of the group representing payday lenders were heading to Florida to hold their annual meeting at a Trump resort in Miami.

Of course, the meeting had several purposes – golf vacation, annual conference and contribution to the Trump family.

But the group didn’t go alone.

Opponents of payday loans went along to hound the lenders.

First, there was Allied Progress’ mobile billboard traveling around Miami to call, as the group said, “attention to the inappropriate and lucrative relationship between the Trump world and payday loan sharks.”

The group also ran digital ads on Facebook, Twitter, Google and LinkedIn that geo-targeted users near the Trump Doral resort, and targeted users nationally who search for information or social media posts about the CFSA.

And if that weren’t enough, Allied Progress sponsored an airplane flyover near the Miami resort hosting the organization.

Finally, on March 18, faith leaders from Florida and across the country held a pray-in near the Trump resort in protest of the CFSA meeting.

Another CFSA meeting was scheduled to be held at the beginning of this month in Charlotte, N.C.

Where? The Casket and Funeral Supply Association of America.

That group probably won’t attract so much attention.

Play Ball!

Now that the Mueller report has been issued, we can begin concentrating on the really important issues facing this nation.

Are Bryce Harper and Manny Machado really worth all that money?

How many home runs will Aaron Judge hit this year?

How soon will the pathetic Baltimore Orioles be eliminated from playoff contention?

Yes, the major league baseball season is upon us.

Some of you might not like baseball. You might prefer football, basketball or professional wrestling.

And some of you may even find watching baseball the most boring thing you’ve ever done.

To those folks, I simply ask, “Have you ever watched the United States Senate?

David Baumann is a correspondent-at-large for CU Times. He can be reached at dbaumann@cutimes.com.