Bill would ban stock trading in Congress — and White House

Hard-working taxpayers who toil while Capitol Hill elites rake in cash from stock trading may be getting some relief.

A bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate Wednesday would ban stock trading and individual stock ownership by members of Congress and their families.

And it added executive branch officials to the list.

Members of Congress have rightly come under fire for stock trading while in office. They were, after all, elected to serve, not to profit.

Last year, an Business Insider investigation found scores of members of Congress violated a requirement to disclose stock trades within 45 days of the transaction. Worse, when the website sought comment from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (whose husband is a major stock trader), she dismissed the idea of requiring lawmakers to put their holdings in blind trusts while serving.

She didn’t do herself any favors with that response.

As RollCall reported, Wednesday’s measure, led by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, (D-N.Y.), and Josh Hawley, (R-Mo.), is the latest of several seeking to ban or limit stock trading by members.

The bill would ban stock trading or ownership, even in a blind trust, and impose stiff penalties on executive branch officials who trade stock. It would require reporting of officials’ federal benefits — including loans, agreements, contracts, grants and payments — and would create public, searchable databases of personal financial disclosure reports and filings as required by the STOCK Act, the 2012 federal law that forbids members from trading on nonpublic, material information they receive as part of their jobs.

A searchable database of personal financial disclosures must be sending chills throughout DC. For voters, it’s the kind of transparency that’s long been promised, but rarely delivered.

“Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” Gillibrand said in a statement. “It is critical that the American people know that their elected leaders are putting the public first — not looking for ways to line their own pockets.”

With the public approval rating of Congress circling the drain at 20%, according to Gallup polling, lawmakers must be finally getting the memo.

The new bill is at least the third introduced this year in the Senate to ban or limit stock trading by members.

At least six similar measures have been introduced in the House.

The new proposal coincides with a poll on various stock trading bans conducted by the Program for Public Consultation at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy.

The results were not surprising: 86% favored legislation prohibiting members of Congress and family members living with them from trading individual stocks. In a rarity in our polarized country: Democrats and Republicans equally agreed.

Whether Congress passes this bill to look good for constituents, or to genuinely rout out stock wheeling and dealing in Congress — and the White House — it’s legislation that is strongly needed. It’s also a strong signal to send: lawmakers will be held accountable.

Let that sunlight in.