Who?
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) — Senate Banking, House & Urban Affairs Committee*
*Former lead sponsor Sen. Steve Daines exited the Banking Committee to take a slot on the Foreign Relations Committee, which is when he passed the proverbial torch to Moreno who’s now the lead GOP sponsor of the SAFER Banking Act in the US Senate
LISTEN: Laslo & Moreno
Ask a Pol asks:
This summer you told me the SAFER Banking Act — financial protections for cannabis companies — was maybe going to be in the fall. Any discussions yet?
Key Moreno:
“We’re still seeing what we can do to get it done in Q4. As you know, the Democrats give us a lot of stuff to do,” Sen. Bernie Moreno exclusively tells Ask a Pol. “We have to fund the government, we have to get NDAA across the finish line, we gotta get noms [nominations] done.”
Caught our ear:
Since we talked last, President Donald Trump came out in favor of rescheduling marijuana…
“Has he? But he hasn’t actually issued the executive order yet, right?” Moreno tells us. “It’s obviously an important domino, is the rescheduling. Certainly there’s a lot of my colleagues that would have that concern if we didn’t do rescheduling. So we’ll look at it, but we have time. We have time.”
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), slightly edited for clarity.
TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Bernie Moreno (9-16-2025)
Scene: Last week, before Congress left town for this week’s congressional recess, Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo catches Sen. Bernie Moreno as he’s jetting through the basement of the US Capitol on his way to a floor vote…
Matt Laslo: “How are you, sir?”
Laslo leaves a small gaggle of reporters.
Bernie Moreno: “What’s going on, guys? What’s new and exciting?”
ML: “You told me SAFER Banking was maybe going to be in the fall?”
ICYMI — Subscribe to never miss our exclusives!
BM: “Is that the fall?”
ML: “I think it’s the fall?”
Laslo shrugs.
BM: “The fall officially doesn’t start til September 21st.”
ML: “Oh, fair. But any talk about it or is it…?”
BM: “So we’re still seeing what we can do to get it done in Q4. As you know, the Democrats give us a lot of stuff to do.”
Every bit helps. Consider chipping in!
Venmo, PayPal, Cash App — or just buy us a beer.
ML: “Yeah?”
BM: “We have to fund the government, we have to get NDAA across the finish line, we gotta get noms [nominations] done.”
ML: “Since we talked last, President Trump came out in favor of rescheduling.”
BM: “Has he?”
ML: “Yeah.”
BM: “But he hasn’t actually issued the executive order yet, right?”
ML: “No. But then someone like Charlie Kirk came out opposed to it a couple weeks ago — so the dynamics are interesting in your party.”
BM: “Yeah. I think it’s obviously an important domino, is the rescheduling.”
ML: “Yeah?”
BM: “Certainly there’s a lot of my colleagues that would have that concern if we didn’t do rescheduling. So we’ll look at it, but we have time. We have time.”
M: “Yeah? I’ll be watchin.”
BM: “Alright.”
Moreno heads to Senate floor to vote.
Content posted at AskaPol.com is copyrighted. Use our original content to move the story forward. And, please, link to us.
