Republican Leader and the House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is looking into ways to ban or limit members of Congress from stock trading if Republicans gain a majority in the House in the mid-term elections ahead in November.
This comes after top Democrat lawmakers like Nancy Pelosi and some other prominent members of Congress, from both sides, have been alleged to gaining massive profits on their holdings and stock trades with insider information.
This proposal from the House Minority Leader is expected to draw bipartisan support since people are upset with how politicians can cash in on millions of dollars with insider policy information.
The Republican leader told Punchbowl news about this proposal and how he can go around such a ban or limitation. One way around this would be to limit members of Congress to hold only professionally managed mutual funds. Another proposed bill would be to ban them completely to hold any stock in industries that are overseen by their committee.
The STOCK Act limits members of congress and their aids from trading with private information about U.S. policy and requires elected members to disclose their trading transactions. But this law is barely enforced and lawmakers often find a loophole around it.
Members like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi received widespread criticism recently for the trading she made after getting a briefing about the incoming pandemic of COVID-19. She has made millions from stock tradings recently. Paul Pelosi, Speaker Pelosi’s husband, is an investor who dumped over a million dollars worth of stocks just a week before the market crashed because of the COVID-19.
When asked about this, Speaker Pelosi brushed off the question by saying, “We are a free-market economy” claiming that members of Congress “should be able to participate in that”
What do you make of Leader McCarthy’s proposal? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
