A bipartisan group of senators announced a new push to pass legislation banning stock trading for members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children.
Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), proposed a new version of the Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act, which the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will consider this month.
The bipartisan agreement would immediately ban members of Congress from buying stocks and would prohibit selling stocks 90 days after enactment.
Members’ spouses and dependent children would be prohibited from trading stocks starting in March 2027, and that year, members of Congress, the president and vice president would also be required to divest from covered investments.
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“Three years ago, I introduced landmark legislation to ban stock trading by Members of Congress. Today, after leading intensive bipartisan negotiations, I can report progress toward this necessary reform,” Ossoff said in a press release. “Georgians overwhelmingly agree: Members of Congress should not be playing the stock market while we make Federal policy and have extraordinary access to confidential information. We still have a long way to go to pass this bill, but today’s bipartisan announcement is a major step forward.”
Sen. Ossoff Announces Bipartisan Progress to Ban Congressional Stock Trading www.youtube.com
The proposal also calls for steeper penalties for violating financial disclosure law. Failure to divest would result in a fine of the value of the member’s monthly salary or 10% of the value of the assets in violation, whichever is greater, NPR reported.
Currently, the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which was passed by Congress in 2012 to defend against conflicts of interest, curb insider trading and enhance public transparency, assesses a $200 fine for violations of the law — which is often waived.
The STOCK Act requires members of Congress to publicly report — within 45 days — most purchases, sales and exchanges of stocks, bonds, commodity futures, securities and cryptocurrencies.
Raw Story has found that at least 51 members of the 118th Congress have violated the STOCK Act.
Numerous bills have previously been introduced over the past two congressional sessions that would at least in part ban stock trading by members of Congress and their spouses or require stricter punishments for violators.
Such bills include the Ban Conflicted Trading Act, the Ban Stock Trading for Government Officials Act — which Ossoff sponsored, the Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act, the TRUST in Congress Act and the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments Act.
None of these bills have yet been voted upon by either the U.S. House or Senate.
Peters is chairman of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Hawley and Ossoff are members of the committee.
Ossoff and Merkley were unavailable for an immediate interview. The congressional offices for Peters and Hawley did not respond to Raw Story’s interview request by the time of publication.
