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How Congress's ability to play the stock market could be stymied by the very lawmakers raking in BILLIONS
A bipartisan group of senators are pushing a new stock trading ban for members of Congress on an expedited schedule.
The announcement comes as lucrative stock trades by lawmakers have been under more scrutiny as over $1 billion in trades were made in 2023 alone.
Though there are some laws in place to restrict members from trading on their inside knowledge in Congress, critics say that doesn't always happen.
A recent report from DailyMail.com found many members were trading millions of dollars in stock, including risky options, and others had traded a total volume of over $100 million.
These shocking figures are well above the average member salary of $174,000.
Four senators introduced a measure Wednesday that would ban members, their spouses and dependents from trading stock and other securities.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks at a press conference announcing a Senate bill to ban congress members from trading stock
Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., announced the legislation dubbed the Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act.
If passed it would ban trading for members 90 days after being signed into law.
Restricted trading for spouses and and dependents would kick in later in March 2027.
Notably, many of the expensive disclosers from notable congressional traders like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., are done under the names of spouses, like Paul Pelosi - who also happens to be a venture capitalist.
The penalties for violating the law would be 10 percent of the value of the asset bought or sold.
'Democrats, Independents, Republicans, overwhelmingly agree that members of Congress should not be playing the stock market,' Ossoff said at an event announcing the legislation.
'This is long overdue,' he said. 'This is necessary.'
Ossoff mentioned how it was a campaign pledge of his to outlaw trading for members, saying, 'That's why I've been pleased to engage in this long and productive bipartisan effort to craft a path forward.'
The Republican behind the bill Josh Hawley said, 'There is no reason that Congress ought to be profiting off of information that only they get.'
'No loopholes. No blind trusts. Let’s get this done,' the senator posted on X after the event.
Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Gary Peters, will address the bill in a markup on July 24.
'We're going to be taking what I believe is a historic step forward on legislation that will ban members of Congress from trading stocks,' Peters said in the Senate TV Gallery.
'Senators, Merkley, Hawley, Ossoff and I have come to a bipartisan agreement on legislation.'
Merkley said of the bill: 'We must be here to serve the public, not our portfolios.'
The lone Republican behind the bill Josh Hawley said, 'There is no reason that Congress ought to be profiting off of information that only they get'
'Democrats , Independents, Republicans, overwhelmingly agree that members of Congress should not be playing the stock market,' Sen. Ossoff said at the event.
Also on Wednesday 20 lawmakers called on House leadership to get started on a stock trading ban in the lower chamber of Congress
Nearly simultaneously, an even larger group of House lawmakers announced they had sent a letter to that chamber's leadership demanding action on a stock trading ban for members.
'We are writing to respectfully urge you to hold a vote on legislation to prohibit members of Congress from owning or trading stocks,' said a letter signed by 20 members addressed to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
'As we head into the last few months of the 118th Congress, we believe that taking action on this common-sense, bipartisan legislation will ensure that members of Congress are serving the country and their constituents, not their bank accounts,' it continues.
In total 16 House Democrats and four Republicans signed the letter.
Out of the 20 lawmakers who signed the bill, disclosures indicate only two of them have ever traded stock while in office: Reps. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Sharice Davids of Kansas.
Nancy Pelosi's November 2023 financial disclosures reveal a significant purchase of Nvidia. That trade has seen over a 178 percent increase in value since
'It’s been nearly two years since House leadership committed to holding a vote on a bill to reform stock trading practices for Members of Congress.'
'In a hyper-partisan political environment where American approval ratings of Congress are at an all-time low, this is a common-sense and bipartisan change, making it crystal clear that we come to Washington to serve our constituents, not to serve our own financial interests,' the letter said.
Congressional stock trades have caught the public eye since the pandemic, when some lawmakers raised eyebrows by selling shortly after closed-door COVID-19 briefings before the stock market crashed.
Pelosi, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., Rep. Dan Mueser, D-Pa., Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., for example, have all traded over a million dollars in securities this year, according to federal data compiled by politician trade tracker Quiver Quantitative.
According to data compiled by Quiver, Pelosi's net worth has doubled in the past decade from $123 million in 2014 to nearly $250 million in 2024
Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., the data firm estimates, is worth a cool $47.2 million
Gottheimer has reported trading over $277 million worth of securities since 2017
In 2012, the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act was passed to force politicians to disclose their trades.
The act forces officials to publicly disclose their transactions valued over $1,000 within 30 days of receiving notice of the trade and 45 days of the date of the trade. However, it does not require members disclose the exact price of a trade but rather a range.
Still, disclosures reveal that Congress traded over $1 billion in 2023 and certain savvy politicians raked in returns earning over 200 percent on some trades.