by Brayden Yee
Over two dozen members of the House of Representatives have called upon House leaders to ban members from owning and trading stocks while in office. The call, which has gained a lot of steam over the past months, has bipartisan support.
A letter, drafted by Jared Golden of Maine and signed by 25 Democrats and 2 Republicans, addressed speaker Nancy Pelosi and minority leader Kevin McCarthy. The letter stated that the STOCK Act, which was meant to prevent lawmakers from trading on information not yet released to the public, was not efficient, and called upon a full barring of trading stocks while in office.
Speaker Pelosi seemed to have shot the bill down in December, stating America was a free market. Since then, Pelosi seems to have changed her position, now stating that if other members are fine with it, she too would be fine with it.
This topic grew during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many members of Congress making trades before the pandemic came to light. Studies have also shown that members of Congress earn consistently higher return rates compared to the average American citizen. Golden argued in his letter that while the STOCK Act should prevent lawmakers from insider trading, it was nearly impossible to determine what is considered to be “nonpublic information.”
The call to ban stock trading has since been joined by multiple senators, with bills being introduced by Jon Ossoff and Josh Hawley, both stating that members of Congress would have to put investments into blind trusts depending on what law was being passed. The call to ban trading in Congress has been picking up momentum since the beginning of the pandemic, and if passed, may restore some trust onto DC lawmakers.
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