Sen. Whitehouse still not fully on board with SAFER Banking

SCROLL DOWN to LISTEN for FREE! Who?Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)LISTEN: Laslo & WhitehouseAsk a Pol asks:What do you make of the DEA — Drug Enforcement Administration — moving to reschedule marijuana?Key Whitehouse: “I think that they're watching it be legalized in a lot of states which sort of runs counter to having it be seen by them as one of the most dangerous drugs,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse exclusively told Ask a Pol. ICYMI — Ask a Pol ask all 100 US senators about SAFER What’s going on with SAFER?“If I'm not mistaken, the reason we're kinda holding off on that is just cause Sen. Jack Reed is the senior member on Banking [Committee],” Whitehouse said. Caught our ear:“But I shouldn't have said that,” Whitehouse told us.Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), slightly edited for clarity.TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Sheldon WhitehouseSCENE: Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo catches Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse after he exits a tram under the Capitol before the two proceed to ride an elevator up to the Senate floor. Matt Laslo: “How are you, sir?”Sheldon Whitehouse: “Hey, how are you?”ML: “Livin the dream. What do you make of the DEA moving to reschedule marijuana?”SUBSCRIBER-ONLY CONTENT**Student? Lost your gig? Hard times? Been there. Got you. No questions asked. Just ping us.SW: “Not much. I think that they're watching it be legalized in a lot of states which sort of runs counter to having it be seen by them as one of the most dangerous drugs.”They enter an elevator. ML: “Yeah? But I know a lot of people in your party want clemency to be part of the debate. And I'm wondering if you guys lose leverage if the administration legalizes it on their own.”SW: “Got me.”ML: “Have you looked at SAFER? Do you know SAFER Banking Act?”SW: “Yep.”ML: “Are you supportive?”SW: “I haven't — I don't think I'm a co-sponsor.”ML: “Yeah?”SW: “But I think it would be helpful to have that.”ML: “Yeah?” SW: “I think, if I'm not mistaken, the reason we're kinda holding off on that is just cause Sen. Jack Reed’s now a senior member on Banking [Committee], but I shouldn't have said that. I actually don't know.”Laslo laughs.SW: “I don't….”ML: “But you’re supportive of the concept, just…?” SW: “Yeah.”ML: “Yep. Preciate ya, sir.”Andrey Beregovskiy and Walken Whalen contributed to this report.Content posted at AskaPol.com is copyrighted. Use our original content to move the story forward. And, please, link to us. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.askapoldrugs.com/subscribe