There continue to be signs that the nationwide push to decriminalize marijuana by the various states will, eventually, cause the federal government itself to come around on the issue; Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Cory Booker, and Sen. Ron Wyden unveiled new proposed legislation to remove federal prohibitions on marijuana and expunge associated (nonviolent) criminal records.

The bad news is that everyone agrees it has little chance of passing the Senate, where Republicans remain steadfastly opposed to anything anyone proposes because screw off, that’s why, and where tough-on-crime rhetoric from the War on Drugs age remains as fashionable now as it was during the days Ronald and Nancy Reagan were leading the charge to hypercriminalize drug use as barely disguised proxy for police harassment of whatever minority groups the police wanted to target. But it’s still quite the federal turnaround.

While the Schumer version is said to begin allowing the federal government to regulate marijuana production and tax its sale, removing federal bans that keep state-legal cannabis producers out of the U.S. banking system would immediately reduce violent crime against those producers. As it stands, marijuana distributors and sellers are forced to conduct most of their business in cash, making them preferred targets for violent assaults, home invasion robberies and similar. It’s an actively harmful policy that promotes, rather than discourages, violent crime.

What the new proposed legislation would not do is bar individual states from instituting or tightening their own anti-marijuana laws. That would be on them. And again: This isn’t expected to pass. It’s expected to be a launching point for a new round of Senate “debate” on the subject, but whether that “debate” will result in a constructive path forward or will be filled, at least in public, by performative wankers looking to score points back home remains to be seen. Don’t look at me for a prediction on this one; as far as I’m concerned, the modern Senate should be replaced by children pulled off an elementary school playground and tasked with solving the critical problems of the land. They’d probably at least agree to fund new train lines.