Senators Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) introduced legislation last week that would ban members of Congress – and their families – from buying and selling stocks while in office. The Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act would require all member of Congress, their spouses and dependent children to place stock portfolios in a blind trust, in an effort to ensure they cannot use inside information to influence personal stock trades and make a profit.
“Members of Congress should not be playing the stock market while we make federal policy and have extraordinary access to confidential information,” Sen. Ossoff said.
Both of Georgia’s former senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, got in a bit of hot water last year over stock trading that critics alleged was due to information they received while performing their work in Congress. Loeffler and her husband were accused of trading on information regarding the seriousness of coronavirus before it was widely known. Similar stories circulated about David Perdue but these were not limited to coronavirus-related information. Neither officeholder was charged with anything by the Justice Department and the two are far from the only ones in Congress to have increased their wealth through stock while in Congress. Speaker Nancy Pelosi herself has come under criticism for making millions in trading a year, with some pointing out that Pelosi’s investments beat the S&P 500 by nearly 15% in 2020.
“Since I took office, I have remained focused on making Washington work for Arizonans. This includes making Washington more accountable and transparent. Elected leaders have access to valuable information that impacts policy, the economy, and entire industries. This legislation I am introducing with Senator Ossoff will put an end to corrupt insider trading and ensure that leaders in Congress focus on delivering results for their constituents, not their stock portfolios,” Kelly said.
Ossoff and Kelly have both put their stock portfolios into blind trusts, making them two of only 10 sitting members of Congress to do so. A wide majority of voters believes Congress and their immediate families should do so, 76% in a Trafalgar group poll – more Republicans in fact than Democrats support the policy, 80% to 70% respectively. Lawmakers are required to disclose financial transactions but the penalty for failing to do so or violating stock trading rules are “miniscule” fines. 54 members of Congress failed to do so properly last year, more than 10% of Congress.
After saying in December “We are a free market economy. They should be able to participate in that,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) pushed the door back open this week that if members are supportive of the bill, she is okay with it.
Ethics groups on both sides of the aisle have endorsed the measure, including the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), National Taxpayers Union, Taxpayers Protection Alliance and FreedomWorks.
In an election year, passage of the bill would give senators something easy to take home to voters that is wildly popular, though the issue is a little obscure for the average voter and some in Congress may hope they can skate by without it becoming a hot topic.
