Senators Announce Deal to Ban Congress Members from Stock Trading

A bipartisan group of senators have just struck a deal to ban Congress members from stock trading.

The agreement is set to be discussed on the floor July 24th.

Check it out:

It's official.

For the first time ever, a group of Senators have announced a deal to ban congress members from trading stocks

The legislation is scheduled to be discussed on July 24th https://t.co/lL8WZlVm2D pic.twitter.com/DHXigxEbzr

— Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker ♟ (@PelosiTracker_) July 10, 2024

🚨Breaking: Senator Josh Hawley, Jon Ossoff, Jeff Merkley and Gary Peters have reached a bipartisan agreement to ban lawmakers from trading stocks. pic.twitter.com/laiUkzUl5t

— Real Mac Report (@RealMacReport) July 10, 2024

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, Democrat Sen. Greg Peters, Democrat Sen. Jeff Merkley, and Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff are the voices behind the bill.

Here’s what they had to say on X:

My new stock trade bill BANS blind trusts and ALL trading by members of Congress. It’s time to shut down Nancy Pelosi’s stock profiteering – and every politician like her pic.twitter.com/rDjN8vPnjT

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 11, 2024

Today, I led a bipartisan group of my colleagues to announce a historic agreement to ban stock trading by Members of Congress.

The American people should be confident their elected officials are making decisions in the best interests of the public, not their personal finances. pic.twitter.com/52dQC0qx6m

— Senator Gary Peters (@SenGaryPeters) July 10, 2024

Members of Congress are elected to serve the public—not our stock portfolios.

We have bipartisan momentum behind the ETHICS Act to ban lawmakers from buying and trading stocks. It erodes public trust and invites corruption—let’s get this bill passed! pic.twitter.com/GcCjxkADTt

— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) July 11, 2024

BANNING STOCK TRADING: Today, Sen. Ossoff announced a bipartisan path forward to ban stock trading by members of Congress alongside @SenGaryPeters, @SenHawleyPress, and @SenJeffMerkley, with a markup in the Senate Homeland Security Committee later this month. pic.twitter.com/6gGJfasUkH

— Ossoff's Office (@SenOssoff) July 10, 2024

Of course, this bill takes aim at Congress members like Nancy Pelosi who have profited INSANE amounts of returns over the years since taking office.

Pelosi when the bill about banning congress stock trading crosses her desk pic.twitter.com/PLyswPKagk

— Autopilot ♟ (@JoinAutopilot_) July 11, 2024

Markets Insider reports:

Congress is once again attempting to ban its members from trading individual stocks.

A bipartisan group of Senators unveiled a new bill on Wednesday that, if passed, would ban sitting members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children, and the sitting President and Vice President from trading stocks.

Members of Congress have faced scrutiny for their individual stock trades since the 2009 financial crisis, but that scrutiny has increased considerably over the past few years, especially as some members have made timely, profitable trades.

There’s even a growing movement for investors to follow the trades of sitting members of Congress via ETFs that track their trades.

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The concerns over members of Congress and their spouses trading stocks are mainly based on the material information that they might be privy to that the rest of the public is not.

Republican Senator Josh Hawley and Democratic Senators Jon Ossoff, Jeff Merkley, and Gary Peters introduced the bill.

The Washington Examiner added:

The legislation would make it a penalty for representatives, senators, the president, and the vice president, as well as their spouses, children, and dependents, from engaging in such investments. The proposed bill comes amid bipartisan calls for the practice to be stopped, given accusations that elected officials might be using privileged knowledge to make profitable trades.

The investments that the people covered in the bill would be banned from trading include securities, commodities, futures, options, trusts, and other comparable holdings. Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) are behind the plan.

“Americans deserve to have confidence that their federal elected officials are making decisions that are in the best interest of the American public and not in the interest of any personal finances,” Peters said Wednesday, according to Politico.

What do you think?

Do you support banning Congress members from stock trading?