Tim Burchett on why he strongly backs congressional stock trading ban
The Knoxville congressman has worked for years to stop lawmakers from profiting off information they learn on the job.
U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett and a bipartisan group of his colleagues are poised to force a vote on his bill banning members of Congress from trading stocks.
Burchett has made congressional stock trading a top priority since he was elected in 2018. He’s one of 87 cosponsors of the Restore Trust in Congress Act prohibiting members of Congress, their spouses, dependent children and trustees from buying or selling stocks, securities, commodities, futures and other comparable assets.
“We had a report yesterday that somebody had over 100 business transactions dealing with the military and they serve on the committee that regulates military operations,” Burchett told Knox News on Nov. 20. “There’s no red flags. It’s beyond belief.”
Burchett likens it to insider trading. Lawmakers can hear privileged information and use it to their financial advantage.
If House Speaker Mike Johnson doesn’t schedule a vote on his own by Nov. 28, Burchett told Knox News, the group will initiate a discharge petition.
That means 218 Democrats and Republicans could come together to say they want the vote held right away, and Johnson will be forced to schedule it. It’s the same method that forced a vote this month compelling the Department of Justice to release its Jeffery Epstein files, leading to Trump signing it.
Burchett and his colleagues got a win last week when the House Administration Committee held a hearing about the bill, but that doesn’t mean Johnson will actually bring it up for a vote.
Knox News talked with Burchett about his efforts to get the bill passed and why he thinks congressional stock trading should be banned.
Knox News: I know the stock trading bill is making headlines, now but you’ve been at this for a while. Tell me about the effort.
Tim Burchett: Everybody’s for this. The White House has even done polling. It’s one of the highest-polling issues right now − bipartisan support that we are doing insider trading.
I make these skateboards. I gave one to Tulsi Gabbard and now people are saying, “Hey man, I’d love to get one.” So, I go down to the ethics people. I got all these hoops I got to jump through. I have to hire an attorney. I have to make a business plan.
I said, “So I can insider trade stocks, but I can’t sell skateboards?” And they go, “Yeah, pretty much.” It’s just the obvious abuse and corruption. It’s both parties. We have members making five, six hundred stock trades a year. They’re claiming it’s not with insider trading. That’s just not true.
How has it been putting together a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers to carry this through?
Burchett: Like pulling teeth. We’ll probably pass something in the House and we may get something in the Senate, but they won’t match up. And that’ll be the trick they pull on us, or they’ll just sit on it. They’ll run the clock out on us.
It’s just the inability of Congress to do anything. It’s bipartisan support, but dadgum there’s bipartisan against it as well.
Can you elaborate a little more on why lawmakers’ finances matter?
Burchett: People are in those industries that they are regulating. They own stock in those companies.
We had a report yesterday that somebody had over 100 business transactions dealing with the military and they serve on the committee that regulates military operations. There’s no red flags. It’s beyond belief.
It’s the arrogance we have in Congress to be able to do that.
What’s next? What does it take to get this over the finish line?
Burchett: Well, it may take a discharge petition to get this thing to the floor.
Do you have the 218 signatures you need?
Burchett: I don’t know. No one up here has any guts. And this is a bipartisan problem. Democrats and Republicans are getting rich up here, and I’m sick of it.
Burchett’s effort would build on existing restrictions
Congress passed legislation in 2012 outlawing member trading on insider information and requiring members of Congress to file financial disclosures of stock trades within 30 days. It placed new penalties on members who use information for insider trading.
But it doesn’t go far enough, Burchett and his colleagues say.
“The prevalence of stock trading, and the clear pattern of engaging with industries that are looking to expand their political influence, shows how the STOCK Act has not solved the problems with congressional stock trading,” the Campaign Legal Center writes on its website. “Rather, the transparency afforded to us by the STOCK Act makes it abundantly clear to the public that their elected officials carry enormous financial holdings — and therefore the potential for enormous conflicts of interest. “
Allie Feinberg is the politics reporter for Knox News. Email: allie.feinberg@knoxnews.com; Reddit: u/KnoxNewsAllie
