By John Michael Raasch, Capitol Hill political reporter for DailyMail.com
Updated: July 10, 2024 20:33, July 10, 2024 20:36
A bipartisan group of senators is pushing quickly to ban new stock trading by lawmakers.
The announcement comes amid increased scrutiny of lucrative stock deals by lawmakers, with more than $1 billion in deals planned for 2023 alone.
There are laws limiting lawmakers’ access to inside information in Congress, but critics say they are not always followed.
A recent report from DailyMail.com revealed that many members traded millions of dollars worth of stocks, including risky options, while others traded more than $100 million in total.
These shocking figures far exceed the average member salary of $174,000.
Four senators introduced a bill on Wednesday that would ban lawmakers, their spouses and dependents from trading stocks and other securities.
Senators Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) introduced the bill, titled the End Congressional Stock Trading and Holdings (ETHICS) Act.
If the bill passes, members will be banned from trading for 90 days after it is signed.
Restricted transactions for spouses and dependents are expected to begin in late March 2027.
Notably, many of the expensive disclosures by prominent congressional traders, such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), have been made in the names of their spouses, such as venture capitalist Paul Pelosi.
The penalty for violating the law is 10 percent of the value of the property purchased or sold.
“Democrats, Independents and Republicans overwhelmingly agree that members of Congress should not be trading on the stock market,” Ossoff said at an event announcing the bill.
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“This has been needed for a long time,” he said. “This is necessary.”
Ossoff noted that banning the buying and selling of memberships was one of his campaign promises, “which is why I’m pleased to be part of this long-running, fruitful, bipartisan effort to find a way forward.”
“There is no reason for Congress to benefit from information that is only available to Congress,” said Republican Rep. Josh Hawley, who introduced the bill.
“No loopholes. No blind trusts. Let’s get this done,” the senator posted on X after the event.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Gary Peters is scheduled to speak about the bill during debate on July 24.
“I believe this will be a historic step toward passing legislation that would ban members of Congress from trading in stocks,” Sen. Peters said in the Senate television gallery.
“Senators Merkley, Hawley, Ossoff and I have reached bipartisan agreement on the bill.”
“We have to be here for the people, not just for our jobs,” Merkley said of the bill.
At roughly the same time, a larger group of House members wrote a letter to House leadership announcing they would ban members from trading stocks.
“We are writing to respectfully request that you hold a vote on legislation that would prohibit members from owning or trading stocks,” said the letter, signed by 20 lawmakers and addressed to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York.
“As we head into the final months of the 118th Congress, we believe working on this commonsense, bipartisan legislation will ensure lawmakers are serving their country and their constituents, not their bank accounts,” the letter continues.
The letter was signed by 16 House Democrats and four Republicans.
Of the 20 senators who signed the bill, only two — Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Sharice Davids of Kansas — have traded stocks while in office, according to disclosures.
“It’s been almost two years since House leadership committed to holding a vote on a bill to reform lawmakers’ stock trading practices.”
“In an extremely partisan political environment where Congressional approval ratings are at an all-time low, this is a common-sense, bipartisan change that makes it very clear that we come to Washington to serve our constituents, not for our own economic gain,” the letter said.
Since the pandemic began, congressional stock trading has come into public scrutiny after some lawmakers controversially sold stocks shortly after closed-door COVID-19 briefings and before the stock market crashed.
For example, Speaker Pelosi, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Jersey), Rep. Dan Meuser (D-Pennsylvania), Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) have all made more than $1 million in securities transactions this year, according to federal data compiled by Quiver Quantitative, which tracks politicians’ transactions.
In 2012, the Prohibition on Trading with Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act was passed, requiring politicians to disclose their trading practices.
The law requires officials to publicly disclose any transaction over $1,000 within 30 days of receiving notice of the transaction and within 45 days of the date of the transaction, although the law requires disclosure of the range of the transaction, but not the exact value.
Still, disclosures show Congress has done more than $1 billion in deals in 2023, with some savvy politicians making profits of more than 200% on some deals.
