A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill on Tuesday that would ban members of Congress and their spouses from investing in individual stocks, a move that the authors say is necessary to restore public trust in the institution.
The bipartisan ban on the Congressional Stock Ownership Act was introduced by Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, along with Reps. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont. Ken Buck, R-Colo., are both members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
The bill would ban members of Congress from owning and trading individual stocks, bonds, futures, and other securities, with a $50,000 fine for each violation of the law. Members of Congress would still be able to own diversified investments such as mutual funds and ETFs.
The members of Congress are elected to serve the people, not our own financial interests, Jayapal said on Tuesday. The door to corruption remains open as long as members and their spouses are allowed to trade individual stocks. The public doesn't have access to insider information, according to Rep. Buck.
The American people need to trust that Congress will use this information only to conduct official business, not benefit a stock portfolio, Buck said.
Legislation to ban stock trading in the past has not been implemented by lawmakers.
The House floor was expected to vote on the issue of Combating Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government Act in September, which was intended to ban members of Congress as well as top officials in the judicial and executive branches of trading individual stocks, but the vote was called off ahead of the midterm elections.
In the upper chamber was Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. The Eliminating Executive Branch Insider Trading Act was introduced earlier this month, which would allow executive branch officials from trading individual stocks.
I think it is a conflict of interest. Insider trading is already banned, but members of Congress, I think, get information that a lot of the public isn't privy to. It may not technically be insider trading, but I do think it presents conflicts of interest, Hawley told Fox Business.