U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) is among a group of 27 House members who are calling for a ban on members of Congress from owning or trading stocks.
Golden and his colleagues are urging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to quickly hold a vote on the Ban Conflicted Trading Act, the TRUST in Congress Act, or similar legislation.
“Congress should close these loopholes by simply banning members from owning or trading individual stocks while in office,” wrote the lawmakers in a letter to Pelosi and McCarthy. “There is no reason that members of Congress need to be allowed to trade stocks when we should be focused on doing our jobs and serving our constituents. Perhaps this means some of our colleagues will miss out on lucrative investment opportunities. We don’t care.”
The lawmakers pointed out that the STOCK Act, which was passed in 2012 to prevent members of Congress from using congressional knowledge to their advantage in stock trading, has been violated hundreds of times by members of Congress and their staff since 2020. Further, few of those who violated the rules have faced repercussions, they said.
The most egregious examples took place at the start of the pandemic when senators from both parties made significant stock sales after receiving closed briefings on the emergence of COVID-19 but before the pandemic was understood by the public or impacted the market.
The Ban Conflicted Trading Act, introduced by Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), would ban members of Congress and certain staff from holding or trading individual stocks, except through a blind trust or holding seats as a member or an officer for any for-profit boards.
The TRUST in Congress Act, introduced by Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), would ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks and require members of Congress, their spouses, and their dependent children to place any individual stocks in a blind trust until 180 days after the end of their tenure in Congress.