Shawn Griffiths
Photo Credit: Getty Images / Unsplash+
Last week, a bill that would completely ban members of Congress and their families from trading stocks while in office was approved by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs.
It is the first time such a bill has made it out of committee. The ETHICS Act was introduced by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), and Gary Peters (D-MI).
"Americans of all political persuasions overwhelmingly agree that members of Congress should not be playing the stock market while we hold office," Ossoff said in committee.
Ossoff first introduced this legislation two years ago.
The bill's sponsors understand that there is something inherently wrong about lawmakers who have privileged and confidential information about businesses and industries who then can use that information to get richer.
"We should be focused on the public's interest and not our private, financial interests," Ossoff added.
He is not wrong about public opinion. A 2023 national Morning Consult / Politico poll found that 68% of Americans support a stock trading ban for members of Congress.
This, however, is not the highest bipartisan support reflected in a nationwide poll or survey.
The University of Maryland's School of Public Policy found in the same year that 87% of bipartisan majorities favor such a ban on Congress, the president / vice president, and sitting justices on the Supreme Court.
During a committee hearing, Hawley recognized that insider trading is illegal. However, the public is largely unaware that some information lawmakers have access to technically does not fall in that category.
And yet, it can still give them an advantage in playing the stock market. He said this is one of the reasons senators "rushed to trade stock at the beginning of the pandemic and were investigated for it."
However, the senators who were investigated were not found guilty of any crime because the information they used was not legally defined as insider information by current securities regulations.
The national anti-corruption group RepresentUs announced its support for the ETHICS Act. The group's CEO, Joshua Graham Lynn, called its success in committee a "victory for the movement to rein in corruption and restore faith in Congress."
"Thanks to widespread outrage from across the political spectrum, leaders from both parties have joined forces to push a congressional stock ban further than it has ever gone before," he said.
"The stage is now set for the ETHICS Act to get a full vote on the Senate floor. We welcome that vote and encourage every member of Congress to support it."
It is unclear when a floor vote will happen, but Ossoff has previously stated he would like to see it before November's elections.