The bill would ban members from trading stocks, according to the supporters.
Although House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.California), Last week, claimedAccording to interviews with lawmakers, while lawmakers appear to be ready to bring a bill that would ban Congress from trading stocks to a vote at the end of the month, the proponents of the ban seem skeptical.
As Insider reportsRepresentatives Abigail Spanberger, Raja Krishnamoorthi (D.Illinois), and Pramila Jayapal (D.Washington), who are all key advocates for the proposal, say that even though lawmakers have been negotiating a bill for months now, the details of a ban are still being discussed.
Democratic leadership, meanwhile, has not been clueing lead advocates in on their plans for the legislation — and some lawmakers think that Democratic leaders could be delaying because they’re personally against the planWith people like Pelosi and her husbandStock trading has many benefits for you personally.
As a New York TimesAccording to a report last week, members are known to regularly trade stock shares in companies that they oversee. This could potentially lead to conflicts of interest. The report revealed that nearly a fifth (or 5%) of Congress reported making such trades between 2019 and 2021.
Last Wednesday, Pelosi said that lawmakers “believe we have a product that we can bring to the floor this month. Advocates were not provided with any legislative text at Thursday’s briefing by the Committee on House Administration. accordingTo two Democratic sources, but only a frameworkOn the bill. The committee is composed of lawmakers have been claimingWhile the bill text has been available for months, no such thing has been discovered.
“We have not heard exactly what’s happening,” Jayapal told Insider. “I can’t say I’m confident.”
Spanberger has speculatedPelosi and Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer (D.New York) are just trying to delay the bill long enough to make it impossible to pass. “I think that they’re trying to run out the clock,” she said in May.
The delay isn’t due to a lack of energy or ideas for the proposal; there have been multiple stock ban bills introduced by members from both sides of the aisle over the past year, with rare bipartisan support for the ban. Those bills all have some form of ban on members’ ability to trade individual stocks. Some of the bills include variations on whether family members should be banned. Others allow lawmakers to keep the stocks within a blind trust or require officials divest from them.
The House Administration Committee could be a block to progress on the House proposal. drafting the bill. Zoe Lofgren, a Democratic California senator, was cool to the idea after the committee held a hearing earlier in the year. Republicans on the committeeThey also stated that they were opposed to the idea.
According to InsiderSpanberger requested a meeting with Lofgren following the April hearing. He found a wide gap between the lawmakers regarding their understanding of the bill. “It was very clear that some of the members just were on different planets talking about this issue,” said Spanberger. “Like, ‘Oh, am I going to have to sell my house?’”
Even if lawmakers succeed in convincing Pelosi and Democratic leaders that they make progress on the proposal Senate Democrats are saying that they won’t propose a stock ban until after the midterm election, according to Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), frustrating Senate advocates.
“There is no reason that we should not have a stock trading bill on the floor and vote on it,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) told InsiderLast week. “Every day that we delay on passing meaningful restrictions on stock trading among members of Congress is a day that further erodes the credibility of this body.”
Advocates and watchdog groups have been able to delay the proposal. Become increasingly frustratedAccording to them, a stock ban is essential. restoring public confidenceIn lawmakers. As long as lawmakers are allowed to trade stocks, they say, the public will question whether or not they’re using insider information to get out ahead; after all, Congress beat the marketLast year.
