WASHINGTON (TNND) — Within the walls of the U.S. Capitol, secrets are traded on almost a daily basis. For members of Congress, access to private information on everything from defense contracts to corporate mergers to healthcare is often part of the job. Additionally, those same lawmakers are also the ones crafting the policies.
That’s a major reason why some say they shouldn’t be profiting off that insider information.
In an interview with The National News Desk on Wednesday, Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., one of the co-sponsors of the bill, explained:
When members of Congress are voting on bills, we should be voting based on what we think is the best for the American people, not on what is best for an investment account.
The issue has brought together some of the most progressive and conservative members of the House of Representatives, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.
During a news conference on Wednesday, Roy, another co-sponsor, said, “It is time for the leadership of Congress on both sides of the aisle to do what the American people have been demanding, which is to end day trading by members of Congress.”
Their bipartisan bill, the Restore Trust in Congress Act, bans members of Congress, as well as their spouses, dependent children and trustees from owning or trading individual stocks, securities, commodities and futures.
“What I’m excited about with this new piece of legislation is it creates a very clear line: you cannot trade inside information, you cannot trade individual stocks. You cannot trade stock options. You can only own large mutual funds. And I think a clear bright line is the best, the only way to deal with this issue,” said Peter Schweizer in an interview with The National News Desk on Thursday.
Schweizer is the President of the Government Accountability Institute and also wrote the bookThrow Them All Out, on insider trading more than a decade ago.
In 2011, he spoke to CBS’s “60 Minutes” about his findings and the story played a major role in the passage of the “Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act” or STOCK Act, which banned lawmakers from trading on non-public information.
“Barack Obama talked about it in his State of the Union address. He signed the bill and then, less than a year later, the bill was gutted on a bipartisan basis,” Schweizer said.
“There was a voice vote in the House and in the Senate, meaning there was no roll call and President Obama signed a reform that essentially gutted the bill. It watered down the language and it loosened the recording requirements and it’s an example of how self-enrichment has bipartisan support in Congress,” he added.
At this point, there’s no indication this new bill will even be brought for a vote, but in the past, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he supports a ban on insider trading by members of Congress.
President Donald Trump has also said he is in favor of the idea.
