Abigail Spanberger Archives

Biden backs banning stock trades for Congress. Will Trump?

December 18, 2024
President Joe Biden has thrown his support behind banning members of Congress from trading stocks. His comments come in the waning hours of his administration as the issue has split members of Congress.

“Nobody in the Congress should be able to make money in the stock market while they’re in the Congress,” Biden said during an interview with Faiz Shakir, an adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Bipartisan groups of lawmakers have proposed legislation to ban congressional members from trading stocks but despite increased support, it has never received a vote.

The Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act, which passed back in 2012, made it illegal for members of Congress to trade using knowledge gained from their jobs. The law also forces more transparency in their personal finances, for instance, disclosing trades in a timely manner made by themselves, their spouse or a dependent child.

But according to analysis of trading by members of Congress, members and their staffers routinely violate this law.

“We continue to see story after story hit the headlines of members of Congress who bought or sold stock relative to or related to the Silicon Valley Bank collapse” Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., said in May 2023. “Before that, it was the invasion of Ukraine. Before that, it was COVID.”

At the time, Spanberger said allowing stock trading raises conflicts of interest, questioning whether lawmakers are making decisions based on what is right for their constituents or what is best for their personal financial interests.

“The easiest, most straightforward way to achieve this is to ban members of Congress from trading stocks,” she said. “And I am so proud that we continue to have an ever-growing coalition. The bill that I lead with Rep. Chip Roy has more than 55 co-sponsors – Democrats, Republicans, across the board, geography wise, across the board, political ideology wise – because this common-sense solution of banning members of Congress from trading stocks just makes sense.”

“The truth is, Congress should not be here to make a buck,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said in July of this year. “Congress should be here to serve the American people. There is no reason why members of Congress ought to be profiting off of the information that only they get.”

Hawley, along with three Senate Democrats, proposed a ban on stock trading in the upper chamber at the time.

Some congressional members have had considerable success in trading stocks. There are even funds that allow regular Americans to invest like congressional members. NANC, which tracks Democrats trading habits, is up over 32% this year, outpacing the S&P 500. Meanwhile, KRUZ, which tracks Republicans, is up just 17%.

When it came up, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., shot down the notion of banning Congressional stock trades. She said she opposed the idea “because this is a free market, and we are a free market economy, they should be able to participate in that.”

The trading acumen of Pelosi and her husband Paul often makes headlines. Pelosi is one of the wealthiest members of Congress with a net worth of around a quarter of a billion dollars.

Biden took pride in where he stood on the list of wealthiest members of Congress during his career in the Senate.

“For 36 years I was listed as the poorest man in the Senate, not a joke,” Biden said during an interview. “I mean in Congress, not the Senate, House and Senate. I never thought I was poor. I had a salary that a senator made. I don’t know how you look at constituents in the eye and know because the job they gave you, gave you an inside track to make more money.”

It’s tough to gauge the impact of Biden’s support of this legislation in his final weeks. But President-elect Donald Trump rang the same bell when announcing he would seek the nation’s highest office once again.

“We want a ban on members of Congress getting rich by trading stocks on insider information,” Trump said in November 2022.
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State legislators propose bans on Chinese land ownership in the US

August 21, 2023
In response to a number of recent national security concerns, including spy balloons and espionage within the military, state legislators are moving to put restrictions on Chinese land ownership in the United States. A Washington Post analysis of data compiled by the advocacy group Asian Pacific American Justice found that lawmakers in 33 states have introduced 81 bills this year to do just that.

“As a former CIA case officer, I recognize the threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party’s aggressive influence campaigns, as well as its attempts to target U.S. national security interests through seemingly innocuous transactions,” Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., said.

These pieces of legislation would prohibit the Chinese government, some China-based businesses and many Chinese citizens from buying agricultural land or property near military bases. At least another 11 bills with similar aims have been introduced in Congress over the last three years.

Proponents say action is necessary to prevent the Chinese government from setting up spy operations on land purchased near American military bases. They also hold concerns that the nation’s food supply could come under threat if hostile foreign powers are buying up too much agricultural land.

“Chinese investments in American farmland put our food security at risk and provide opportunities for Chinese espionage against our military bases and critical infrastructure,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said. “Instead of allowing these purchases, the U.S. government must bar the Communist Party from purchasing our land.”

Though lawmakers have largely been focused on China in their rhetoric regarding this legislation, 17 other countries actually own more American farmland than Beijing currently holds. Most of the proposed bills also restrict land ownership tied to other foreign adversaries, such as Russia, Iran and North Korea. Yet, the emphasis has remained on China, largely due to recent espionage efforts by Beijing, as well as concerns held by U.S. government officials over the uptick in Chinese land purchases as of late.

“It’s very serious concern of ours and an emerging issue. China has been very aggressive over the last 10 years or so,” Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., said.

According to the Department of Agriculture, Chinese ownership of American farmland leapt more than twentyfold over the last decade, with major jumps in recent years.

In 2020, U.S. companies with Chinese shareholders more than doubled their acreage of American land owned, and the following year saw an increase of 98% when compared to purchases made from 2015 to 2019.

However, Asian American advocacy groups believe measures aimed at limiting these purchases go beyond national security concerns and could encourage discrimination against Chinese Americans. Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy has also denounced this legislative push, echoing concerns raised by advocacy groups that restrictions may quote “fuel Asian hatred,” particularly following a spike in hate crimes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“National security is important, but it should not dominate or scapegoat groups of people in our society,” said Jeremy Wu, co-organizer of Asian Pacific American Justice. “We consider racial profiling to be a form of anti-Asian hate. Therefore, [these] activities in many ways parallel and maybe predates the current term of anti-Asian hate in that regard.”
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Democratic Rep. Spanberger survives Vega challenge in Virginia

November 8, 2022

Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger won a nail-biter reelection in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District. The race between the moderate Spanberger and her Republican challenger, Yesli Vega, was considered a toss up in the RealClearPolitics average of polls.

In an election where abortion rights become a top issue, Vega, who hoped to become the first Latina in the commonwealth’s congressional delegation, ran on her support for a nationwide abortion ban. Plus, the GOP had targeted the district during her redistricting.

Spanberger’s race in the outer suburbs of Washington, D.C., was seen as a potential bellwether for the 2022 midterms.
Three House races in NY, VA and TX that could be bellwethers

November 8, 2022

Three U.S. House races could be bellwethers for the 2022 midterm elections. What happens in these congressional districts in New York, Virginia and Texas could be a sign for what Americans will see across the country as results roll in.

In New York’s 17th Congressional District, the chairman of the House Democrats’ campaign arm is in a close race. Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney has had a tough campaign against Republican Mike Lawler in a district that contains only 30% of Maloney’s previous constituents. If the campaign chief for congressional Democrats loses here, it could be rough night for the rest of his party.

Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger is in a nail-biter in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District. The race between the moderate Spanberger and her Republican challenger, Yesli Vega, was considered a toss-up in the RealClearPolitics average of polls.

And in Texas’ 28th Congressional District, Democrat Henry Cuellar is in a tight race for a seat he has held for 18 years. Republican Cassy Garcia may be able to flip this seat to the GOP by beating the pro-life Cuellar.
WSJ: Federal officials traded stock in companies their agencies oversee

October 12, 2022
According to a Wall Street Journal investigation, thousands of federal officials owned shares or traded stocks of companies whose fates were directly affected by their employers’ actions. The Journal published the investigation Tuesday after the paper “obtained and analyzed more than 31,000 financial-disclosure forms for about 12,000 senior career employees, political staff and presidential appointees.”

“The review spans 2016 through 2021 and includes data on about 850,000 financial assets and more than 315,000 trades reported in stocks, bonds and funds by the officials, their spouses or dependent children,” the Journal wrote. “The review amounts to the most comprehensive analysis of investments held by executive-branch officials, who have wide but largely unseen influence over public policy.”

Among the Journal’s findings:
- More than five dozen officials at five agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, reported trading stock in companies shortly before their departments announced enforcement actions, such as charges and settlements, against those companies.
- More than 200 senior EPA officials, nearly one in three, reported investments in companies that were lobbying the agency.
- At the Pentagon, officials in the office of the secretary reported collectively owning between $1.2 million and $3.4 million of stock in aerospace and defense companies on average each year.
The investigation into the owned and traded stock of federal officials comes as House Democratic leadership faced backlash from both moderates and progressives within the party over the alleged stalling of a bill that would ban members of Congress from trading stocks. Leaders unveiled draft legislation to tackle the issue late last month, leaving little time to bring it to a floor vote before Congress left for an extended recess.

“We weren’t really brought into the process. We didn’t really know what was happening with the bill. And at the end of the day, … there were things that perhaps we could have headed off at the pass, or fixed,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said on a press call last week.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), who introduced the bill, issued a statement, saying, “This moment marks a failure of House leadership — and it’s yet another example of why I believe that the Democratic Party needs new leaders in the halls of Capitol Hill.”

The Hill contributed to this report.

Biden backs banning stock trades for Congress. Will Trump?

State legislators propose bans on Chinese land ownership in the US

Democratic Rep. Spanberger survives Vega challenge in Virginia

Three House races in NY, VA and TX that could be bellwethers

WSJ: Federal officials traded stock in companies their agencies oversee

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