A new bill that will allow the legal marijuana industry to bank with financial institutions cleared a big hurdle in the Senate on Wednesday.

The Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation Banking Act (SAFER Act) was approved by the Senate Banking Committee in a 14-9 vote Wednesday morning. The bill will now proceed to the full chamber for a final vote.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. – one of the bill’s staunch supporters – said on the floor Wednesday morning the upper chamber will prioritize passing the bill.

‘I will bring SAFER banking to the floor for a vote as quickly as possible,’ Schumer said in his opening remarks. ‘For too long, cannabis businesses have been forced to rely primarily on cash transactions. No credit or debit cards, dealing only in cash, stifles these businesses’ growth, opens them up to so many risks, makes them easy targets for theft, robbery and other crimes.’

The SAFER Act, authored by Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Steve Daines, R-Mont., was introduced last week with some bipartisan support. While 39 states have already legalized marijuana, the industry has been a target of theft and crime as they are required to make only cash transactions.

The legislation, which allows cannabis businesses access to insurance and other financial services, prevents banking institutions from closing an account unless there is a ‘valid’ reason. 

‘Personal beliefs or political motivations’ are also not permissible reasons to terminate clients’ accounts, according to the bill.

Even though Daines co-authored the bill, he said during Wednesday’s mark up he doesn’t support the federal legalization of marijuana – rather, he narrowed in on his support for legal cannabis businesses being permitted to utilize banking services.

‘This bill is about public safety first and foremost,’ Daines said. ‘The current all-cash model of legal cannabis businesses makes them targets for theft, for tax evasion, and for organized crime.’

He added, ‘The key to addressing this risk is by ensuring all legal businesses have access to the banking system.’

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently proposed relaxing some restrictions on marijuana by reclassifying it from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug.

The prior iteration of the bill, known as the SAFE Banking Act of 2021, did not succeed in obtaining a Senate vote, even though it had been passed by the House seven times.

If the bill clears the Senate, it will then have to battle for survival in the GOP-controlled lower chamber. 

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., on Wednesday gave an impassioned argument that the U.S. government should take back Chinese-owned farmland.

The Pennsylvania Democrat spoke during a broader hearing by the Senate Agriculture Committee on foreign ownership in U.S. agriculture and its impact on food security and national security.

‘I hope many of our colleagues agree, the Chinese government and other U.S. adversaries should own zero, zero agricultural land in our country, I believe that,’ Fetterman said. ‘They’re taking back our pandas.! We should take back all of their farmland.’

According to Department of Agriculture data, Chinese agricultural investment increased tenfold between 2009 and 2016 alone.

Fetterman was referring to the expiration of the panda bear loan agreement between most U.S. zoos and the China Wildlife Conservation Association in December. The most famous of the giant pandas, Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub, Xiao Qi Ji, at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., will all be returned to China.

The only pandas remaining in the U.S. after the deadline can be found at the Atlanta Zoo.

Meanwhile, Republican legislation that would create additional federal safeguards to protect U.S. agriculture land from Chinese buyers overcame its latest hurdle by a substantial margin earlier this week, putting it on track for a full floor vote.

The vote on the Agricultural Security Risk Review Act, which received support from Chairman Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., and ranking member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., sets up a full floor vote in the coming weeks.

Fox News’ Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.

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FIRST ON FOX: The contentious 2024 Republican presidential primary is driving an uptick in ‘valuable’ new donors to the GOP’s online fundraising platform WinRed, the platform told Fox News Digital.

WinRed, which launched in 2019 to compete with the Democratic Party’s fundraising platform ActBlue, has 1.4 million donors so far this year, and 532,000 — or 38% — are new donors, up three points from 35% during the 2022 election cycle, the platform told Fox News Digital.

The platform attributes the increase in new donors to the Republican National Committee’s strict threshold requirements for candidates to qualify for each debate.

‘The numbers are clear that the RNC’s debate requirements are driving significant new donor acquisition,’ WinRed told Fox News Digital. ‘This critical threshold is driving cultural change at campaigns, which is crucial for Republicans to surpass Democrats in online fundraising.

‘WinRed seeks to educate the industry about the value of these donors so that we can continue to drive technological and cultural change at the campaign level and arm our candidates with the resources needed to win more elections.’

The RNC’s qualification thresholds have been raised for each debate. The candidates needed to hit 1% in polling and have 40,000 donors to qualify for the Fox News-hosted event in Milwaukee Aug. 23.

The candidates needed to hit 3% in the polls and 50,000 donors for Wednesday night’s second debate, a FOX Business-hosted showdown at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California.

To participate in the third debate, each candidate must have a minimum of 70,000 unique donors and reach 4% support in two national polls, or reach 4% in one national poll and 4% in two statewide polls conducted in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina, the four states that lead off the Republican presidential nominating calendar.

Candidates are also required to sign a pledge saying they agree to support the eventual Republican presidential nominee. They must agree not to participate in any non-RNC-sanctioned debates for the rest of the 2024 election cycle and agree to data-sharing with the national party committee.

Aside from individual candidates, a number of Republican committees utilize WinRed’s services, including the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Republican State Leadership Committee, the Republican Governors Association and the Save America JFC.

However, WinRed said a whopping 88% of the 532,000 new donors this year came from presidential campaigns. 

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: Disagreements within the House GOP over funding for Ukraine are threatening to derail Republicans’ defense spending bill for a fourth time. 

A procedural vote to advance the bill failed twice last week amid infighting over how to proceed with funding the government. Before that, a planned vote for the same legislation was scuttled over questions about whether it will pass. 

The House is expected to vote on the defense bill on Friday. Multiple GOP lawmakers told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that they believe there is enough opposition to yet again cause a headache for GOP leaders — this time, regarding $300 million in funding toward Ukraine that the bill provides. 

Those critics are also opposed to Ukraine funding in the bill for the State Department, Foreign Operations and related agencies. That bill does not provide a specific spending topline for Kyiv.

‘Both of those bills are dead on arrival. And I told leadership, I told them ahead of time,’ said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. ‘I’ve been clear from day one, that no money should be going to Ukraine, that our position should be bringing peace to that country. We’re currently right now funding the destruction of Ukraine.’

Greene was the lone Republican to vote against a procedural hurdle, known as a rule vote, clearing those two bills and two others for individual floor votes.

But Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., who voted with the GOP on Tuesday night, said he would oppose the individual spending bills when they reached the House floor.

‘We’ve made our statement, we’ve been pretty clear about that. It’s a slippery slope. Nobody trusts the Pentagon, what they say they’re doing,’ Burchett said.

Asked why he voted for the rule, he said, ‘Bring it to the floor, I don’t mind.’

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., another skeptic of Ukraine funding, said he was ‘probably’ leaning no on the defense and State Department funding bills. 

‘Why in the world they would leave that in there and not carve that out for a separate vote, I have no idea,’ Norman said. ‘I’m gonna get advice from other people, kind of weigh it. I’m debating it.’

Norman said, ‘Oh yeah, big time,’ when asked if conservative colleagues felt the same way.

House Freedom Caucus Policy Chair Chip Roy, R-Texas, did not say how he would vote but criticized the decision to leave Ukraine funding in the spending bills. Like Norman, he called for that money to be brought to the House floor on its own.

‘I don’t think they should be in there. I think we should have a separate vote on Ukraine. Now, you know, whether that rises to the level of whether or not I would accept the two bills in their current form depends a lot on what the Speaker lays out in terms of the overall plan,’ Roy said.

He conceded that the relatively small amount in the defense bill is ‘not going to drive whatever is going on in Ukraine. Though he added, ‘If they’re left as they are, I don’t believe that’s showing, I think, a good sense of where a number of people in the conference are. But again, we’ll see how the next 24 hours unfold.’

With just a razor-thin majority, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., can only afford to lose a handful of votes to pass a bill with no Democratic support. Absences can shift the number — last week, it took five GOP critics to sink the defense bill.

The opposition to Ukraine funding also spells more trouble for the Senate’s stopgap funding proposal, known as a continuing resolution (CR), which includes about $6 billion for Kyiv’s defense against Russia. 

Lawmakers in the House and Senate must reach some kind of an agreement on how to fund the government by Sept. 30 or risk a partial shutdown.

The U.S. Department of Justice ordered FBI and IRS investigators involved in the Hunter Biden probe to ‘remove any reference’ to President Biden in a search warrant related to a Foreign Agents Registration Act probe, new documents released by the House Ways & Means Committee reveal.

Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., led a vote Wednesday to release new documents provided by IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler that ‘corroborate their initial testimony to the Committee and reinforce their credibility and their high esteem among colleagues.’

‘The Biden Administration — including top officials at the Justice Department — lied to the American public and engaged in a cover-up that interfered with federal investigators and protected the Biden family, including President Biden himself,’ the committee said.

One document released Wednesday was an August 2020 email sent by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf in which she ordered investigators to remove any reference to ‘Political Figure 1’ from a search warrant. Subsequent documents released Wednesday revealed that President Biden is ‘Political Figure 1.’

‘As a priority, someone needs to redraft attachment B,’ Wolf writes in the email. ‘I am not sure what this is cut and pasted from but other than the attribution location, and identity stuff at the end, none of it is appropriate and within the scope of this warrant.’ 

Wolf adds: ‘Please focus on FARA evidence only. There should be nothing about Political Figure 1 in here.’ 

A document released Wednesday and reviewed by Fox News Digital states that ‘Political Figure 1’ is ‘Former Vice President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.’

‘VP BIDEN is currently the Democratic Party Presidential candidate for the United States and served as the 47th officeholder for the position of the Office of the Vice President of the United States (VPOTUS) in the Barack Obama Administration from January 20, 2009 to January 20, 2017,’ the document states. ‘He is the father of SUBJECT 1.’

‘SUBJECT 1’ is presumably Hunter Biden, the target of the investigation.

The Justice Department indirectly revealed that Hunter Biden is still under investigation for a potential violation of FARA during his first court appearance in July, in which his ‘sweetheart’ plea deal collapsed.

When asked by federal Judge Maryellen Noreika of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware whether the government could bring a charge against Hunter Biden related to FARA, the DOJ prosecutor replied, ‘Yes.’

Whistleblowers Shapley and Ziegler have testified that Wolf, throughout the years-long investigation into Hunter Biden, sought to ‘limit’ investigators’ questioning related to President Biden, despite objections from FBI and IRS officials. 

Meanwhile, the committee said that documents also revealed that the Hunter Biden federal investigation was being ‘hampered and artificially slowed.’ 

The committee said during a September 2022 interview with the president’s brother, James Biden, that investigators were ‘not allowed to ask if then-Vice President Biden was involved in Hunter Biden’s deal with CEFC China Energy,’ or follow ‘normal investigative leads.’

The committee also said a May 2021 report from investigators detailed that they were ‘not allowed to follow investigative leads on potential campaign finance violations related to a wealthy Hollywood lawyer, Kevin Morris, who was enlisted to help the family, and who paid millions of dollars to help Hunter around the time that Joe Biden becomes president.’ 

‘Investigators wrote that ‘there may be campaign finance criminal violations. AUSA Wolf stated on the last prosecution team meeting that she did not want any of the agents to look into the allegation,’’ the committee said Wednesday. 

Chairman Jason Smith said the new documents show a ‘clearer connection between Joe Biden, his public office, and Hunter Biden’s global influence peddling scheme that resulted in over $20 million in payments to the Biden family.’ 

‘In addition to then Vice-President Joe Biden attending lunches and speaking on the phone with his son’s business associates, the details released today paint a fuller picture of how Joe Biden’s vice presidential office was instrumental to the Biden Family’s business schemes,’ Smith said.

Smith said that the evidence included in the documents shows ‘a pattern of Hunter Biden creating for-profit entities to shield at least $20 million from foreign sources from taxes and hide the trail of payments that led to members of the Biden family.’

A congressional aide told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that the Biden family and their associates collected more than $24 million in foreign payments between 2014 and 2019.

‘The growing body of evidence further calls into question the Justice Department’s attempted sweetheart plea deal for Hunter Biden, and the reasons for appointing the architect of that plea deal as the special counsel for Hunter Biden’s case, in light of officials’ efforts to protect President Biden and his son,’ Smith said. ‘This evidence makes clear Hunter Biden’s business was selling the Biden ‘brand’ and that access to the White House was his family’s most valuable asset — despite official claims otherwise.’

Smith, who is leading the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden alongside House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said his committee will continue to take ‘appropriate steps’ in its investigation, including sharing documents with committee Democrats ahead of their release.

‘We have promised to go where the facts lead us, and that is exactly what we will do to get answers for the American people,’ Smith said.

The documents come out as part of House Republicans’ formal impeachment inquiry investigation against President Biden. The House Oversight Committee is set to hold its first public hearing as part of the inquiry on Thursday at 10 a.m. ET.

White House spokesperson Sharon Yang dismissed the new documents Wednesday evening, telling Fox News Digital that House Republicans have ‘again cried wolf and provided no evidence tying President Biden to wrongdoing.’ 

‘Instead of wasting time with media stunts trumpeting half-baked conspiracy theories, House Republicans should realize the clock is ticking – it’s time they stop trying to distract and start focusing on priorities that matter to the American people, like doing their jobs to prevent a government shutdown that would inflict real pain on working families,’ Yang added. 

The Justice Department did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

I often rely on my crystal ball when Congress approaches a potential government shutdown or a debt ceiling crisis.

But I didn’t consult mine lately.

You don’t need a crystal ball to see that it’s likely the government shuts down this weekend.

DEMOCRATIC SEN. BOB MENENDEZ STEPS DOWN ‘TEMPORARILY’ AS CHAIRMAN OF SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE

The House and Senate appear to be talking past one another right now on divergent spending plans. And even if there wasn’t a chasm between the spending bills now before the House and Senate, the parliamentary mechanics of Capitol Hill would make it challenging at best to avert a shutdown. There’s not enough time. That fact alone may mean there’s almost no way for Congress to recover to fund the government before money expires at 12:00:01 am Sunday. 

A bipartisan, 45-day Senate funding bill scored 77 yeas Tuesday night. It has the backing of both Senate leaders. But conservatives like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., say they will make the Senate run all parliamentary traps and not allow speedy passage of the package. That’s because it includes money for Ukraine.

‘So U.S. government workers, get this,’ said Paul. ‘If they force a shutdown by forcing us to send more money we don’t have to Ukraine, they will in essence be saying ‘We’re going to continue to pay Ukrainian government workers, but not U.S. government workers.’ That is particularly galling.’

An effort by Paul to slow the process means the Senate could take until Saturday or Sunday to pass the bill, skipping through various parliamentary hurdles.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., helped author the package. But House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told McConnell he wouldn’t entertain the Senate bill in the House, no matter what.

‘I would like to see something much different,’ said McCarthy. ‘(They) put a focus on Ukraine and (didn’t) focus on the southern border. I think their priorities are backwards.’

Seventy-seven votes – more than three-quarters – is a substantial bloc of support for anything in the Senate. Sure, all it takes is one senator or a small group of senators to slow things down. But it’s rare for the Senate to conjure up that many votes on anything.

However, the Senate’s strength did little to impress House conservatives.

‘Seventy-seven senators are wrong,’ said Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla. ‘If you look at $33 trillion in debt, 77 senators have been wrong for a long time up here. Just because they come to some silly agreement over there that changes nothing about our country, does it mean that they’re right? That just means that they’re weak.’

McConnell defended the Senate’s approach which fell on deaf ears among House Republicans.

‘We can take the strategy approach and fund the government for six weeks at the current rate of operations or we can shut the government down in exchange for zero meaningful progress on policy,’ said McConnell. ‘Shutting down the government isn’t an effective way to make a point.’

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he opposed the Senate’s parliamentary move to advance a ‘shell’ of a spending package because the measure won’t prevent a shutdown.

TRIPLE HOUSE MELTDOWN ON DEFENSE BILL MAY MARK THE WORST RUN FOR A HOUSE MAJORITY IN MODERN HISTORY

‘We must avert a shutdown. That means a bill to fund the government needs to pass in both chambers with bipartisan support,’ said Tillis. ‘It makes absolutely no sense for the Senate to waste the rest of the week voting on a spending bill that is dead on arrival in the House. In fact, it guarantees a shutdown.’

Members of the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus has a bill which Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said would be a ‘better fit’ to address a potential shutdown.

‘I hope that will be a fallback or landing spot for people,’ said Bacon.

Why?

Because it’s unclear if McCarthy’s still unfinished, interim spending bill with border security can pass.

‘It’s a great question,’ said House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., ‘We’ll see what happens.’

Regardless, the Senate plan – or even the Problem Solvers caucus proposal could score 275-300 votes.

Some Republicans attributed McCarthy’s effort to placate the right to pressure applied by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. Gaetz has touted calling for a new Speaker’s election should the California Republican drift too far from conservative principals or align with Democrats to avoid a shutdown.

‘This is just a pissing match between McCarthy and Gaetz,’ said one senior House GOPer. ‘That’s the whole reason the government could shut down. I don’t think he intends to use (his resolution to vacate the chair).’

Gaetz may say otherwise. But the Florida Republican hasn’t made his move yet.

This is what concerns centrist Republicans who represent districts carried by President Biden like Bacon. Moreover, there is a mother lode of about 200 House Republicans who are outraged at the tactics of a small, vocal few.

‘We should never let five or ten people push us around like this,’ said Bacon.

If you haven’t noticed, Republicans are essentially tussling with each other.

That said, after weeks of infighting, Republicans did finally coalesce around one subject: border security. McCarthy latched onto that after a lengthy impasse between his own lawmakers trying to advance bills onto the floor. McCarthy now wants President Biden to meet with him about the border – even though the Speaker never made that request dating back to late July.

‘The President needs to make a decision,’ warned Rep. August Pfluger, R-Tex. ‘If he wants to keep the government open, he needs to shut down the border. No border security, no funding.’

The border inflection point gave the GOP a rallying cry. But moderate Republicans who represent battleground districts fear the political impacts of a shutdown. Moreover, they also fear the wrath of ultra-conservative voters in a primary.

So some of these Republicans may need to have it both ways as the government funding deadline looms.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called out the GOP.

‘In the House, Republicans have tried everything but bipartisanship,’ said Schumer. ‘The Speaker twisted himself into pretzels again, trying to avoid his responsibility of governing.’

So, there’s a standoff.

And some GOP members might be okay with a shutdown.

‘People in my district are willing to shut the government down for more conservative fiscal policies,’ said Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., on Fox.

Regardless, there’s not much time.

During an appearance on FOX Business, McCarthy was asked if he could keep the government open.

There’s a chance the government may not shutter early Sunday morning. But if that’s the case, the bills presently before the House and Senate don’t appear to be the legislative vehicles which would prevent a shutdown.

And for that, we’ll need a crystal ball.