The House has passed a bill to add new restrictions on lawmakers trading stocks, and I’m just sitting here sipping my coffee, thinking, “It’s about time, folks.” The bill passed 232 to 198 on Wednesday, with only 13 Democrats joining Republicans in support. I’m not sure what’s more surprising, the fact that it passed or that only 13 Democrats decided to join the party. The measure prevents lawmakers, their spouses, and dependent children from buying new stocks of publicly traded companies while serving in Congress, which adds a new restriction on a highly controversial practice. I mean, who doesn’t love a good controversy, right?
I’m reading through this article, and I’m thinking, “Okay, this is a step in the right direction.” Lawmakers can still buy private stocks, keep stocks they already owned prior to entering Congress, and maintain certain investment funds. Selling stock would require a seven-to-14-day advance notice, and if the new rules are violated, the lawmaker would have to pay a fee of $2,000 or 10% of the value of the transaction, whichever is greater, and forfeit the profit from the trade. It’s not a complete ban, but it’s something.
In the days leading up to the vote, a separate voter ID measure that would also add new restrictions on mail-in voting was added to the bill, further complicating the push to pass the bill. Because, you know, why make things simple, right? While the bill – led by Bryan Steil, the GOP chairman of the House Administration Committee – adds more constraints on lawmaker stock trading than what exists under the current law, most Democrats opposed it, saying it did not go far enough to end the practice and they disapproved of the Republican decision to attach changes to voting measures to the legislation.
Democratic Rep. Seth Magaziner told CNN, “House Republicans are pushing (a) voter suppression bill that will upend mail-in-voting and throw the elections into chaos, and are trying to trick members into supporting it by linking it to a partial stock trading ban that falls short of the full Congressional stock trading ban that the American people want.” Okay, Seth, I get it, you’re not happy about it. But Steil said on Monday that the legislation “is critical to restoring public trust in this institution.” I think we can all agree on that.
The question of whether lawmakers should be allowed to trade stocks has sparked contentious debate in the halls of Congress for years. At one point last year, there was a glimmer of hope that permanently banning lawmaker stock trading in its entirety would become law with strong bipartisan support. But then proposals started to diverge, and talks began to stall. Some Democrats pushed to expand the effort to include banning the president, vice president, and their spouses from trading stocks as well, losing Republican support in the process.
Polls have consistently found widespread support for banning members of Congress from trading stocks. The issue has received national attention and alarmed nonpartisan ethics experts about whether lawmakers are using their positions of power for personal enrichment. CNN has reported on instances where senator stock purchases or sales involved companies in industries overseen by the committees they serve on, as well as how lawmaker stock trading spiked in the days around President Donald Trump’s trade war announcements.
Under current law, lawmakers, their spouses, and children are permitted to make trades, but they are mandated to report any activity done on their behalf within 45 days. They are only required to disclose a monetary value range for trades. Ahead of the vote, GOP Rep. Thomas Massie said he would support the legislation but offered a warning: “I don’t think it’s going to solve problems up here, but I’ll vote for it.” Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, Thomas.
In conclusion, the House has passed a bill to add new restrictions on lawmakers trading stocks, and while it’s not perfect, it’s a step in the right direction. I’ll just be over here, sipping my coffee, waiting to see what the Senate does next. And who knows, maybe someday we’ll have a complete ban on lawmaker stock trading, but until then, I’ll just have to keep reading about it in the news and shaking my head, thinking, “Only in Washington, folks.”
Armchair patriot. Believes in the free market, cold beer, and that there’s always a guy named George behind every CNN segment.
Former remote-throwing champion turned #1 couch commentator on liberal panic in the media. Born in Texas (or so his mug says), he earned a degree in Fake Newsology & Beer Philosophy from YouTube University.
