Washington, (Transatlantic Today) – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband (among other members of Congress) may be required to cease buying and selling (personal) individual stocks as U.S. Senators from both sides drafted legislation that could prohibit the practice.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) presented a legislature last week that would forbid members of Congress, their dependent children, and their spouses from stock trading while in office. In addition, if the bill passes, each member of Congress would have to put their investments in a blind trust — and anyone that failed to abide would forfeit their annual salary.
“Members of Congress shouldn’t [be allowed to play] the stock market as we have access to extraordinary confidential information and make federal policy,” Ossoff said.
Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) likewise intends to present a separate bill that could prohibit members of Congress from trading stocks, his office told on Wednesday.
In the House, however, Minority Leader McCarthy (R-Calif.) stated Tuesday a goal to ban stock trades by Congresspeople but didn’t advocate a particular plan.
“If you’re the Speaker of the House, you control what comes to the floor, what goes through committee, you have all the power to do everything you want — you can’t be trading millions of dollars,” McCarthy told The Post on Tuesday.
Other House Republicans, however, took issue with McCarthy’s comments, stating it would make members worse off long-term.
Some Dems also wriggled when journalists interviewed them about a potential ban. For example, on Tuesday, the media questioned Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), but he declined to communicate whether he supports a ban.
Blake Masters, a GOP US Senate candidate for Arizona, has likewise previously stated he supports a ban of trading stocks while in office — as have Dems such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) (a.k.a. AOC).
As members of Congress remain torn about denying themselves the opportunity to trade stocks, a ban is backed by 76% of U.S. voters — including 78% of Republicans, 70% of Democrats, and 80% of independents, per a December 2021 poll by Convention of States Action.
Spokespeople for Schumer and McCarthy failed to respond to requests for comment immediately.
