Democrats and Republicans in the Senate joined forces in an effort to ban members of Congress from stock trading. The newly introduced Ethics Act would ban members of Congress, the president and vice president from buying or selling securities, commodities, futures, options, trusts and other investments immediately.
Members would have to divest from those same assets starting in 2027. The bill would also cover lawmakers’ spouses and dependent children starting in 2027.
Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., introduced the bill.
“Across the state of Georgia, Democrats, independents, Republicans overwhelmingly agree that members of Congress should not be playing the stock market while we legislate and while we have access to confidential and privileged information,” Ossoff said. “This is long overdue, this is necessary.”
According to a poll from the University of Maryland, 86% of registered voters favor prohibiting members of Congress from stock trading. That includes Republicans, Democrats and Independents. Voters also favor the same prohibition for the president, vice president and Supreme Court justices.
The lawmakers who wrote this proposal say the manner in which members trade stocks is “corrupt.” They also say members take their stock portfolios into account when they write legislation.
Violations of the Ethics Act would carry a stiff penalty. If a member fails to divest, they will be subject to a fine of their monthly salary or 10% of the value of covered assets, whichever is greater.
“Congress should not be here to make a buck,” Hawley said. “Congress should be here to serve the people. There is no reason why members of Congress ought to be profiting off of the information that only they get and the rest of the American people don’t get.”
According to the Motley Fool, these are the five members who conducted the most trades in 2023, although they did not necessarily make the most money.
- Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.: 4,200 trades, 94 million shares.
- Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas: 1,800 trades, 287 million shares.
- Rep. Daniel Goldman, D-N.Y.: 1,300 trades, 30 million shares.
- Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J.: 620 trades, 93 million shares.
- Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Al.: 404 trades, 11 million shares.
