Per Marijuana moment:

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says Congress is getting “very close” to introducing and passing a marijuana bill with provisions covering banking access for legal businesses and expungements of past convictions, citing progress he’s made in discussions with a “bunch of Republican senators.”

During a debate with his Republican reelection opponent Joe Pinion on Sunday, Schumer was asked about a separate broader cannabis legalization bill he filed this year and whether he felt it would make more sense to first promote more research into marijuana before ending prohibition.

While the top senator said that research is “very, very important,” he pointed out that “many states have approved legalization of cannabis,” and so the policy is already “upon us.”