
Disclaimer: This article may contain the personal views and opinions of the author.
It is, sadly, no surprise that members of our government use their positions of power for their personal gain.
Seventy-one members of Congress violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK) of 2012.
They have violated a federal law designed to prevent members of Congress from accessing inside information to line their pockets.
According to the STOCK Act, congressional representatives are required to report financial trades that exceed $1,000 “that they, their spouses or their dependent children made within 30 to 45 days of the transactions.”
And before anyone starts picking sides, offenders come from both sides of the political aisle.
Business Insider reported:
Congress passed the law a decade ago to combat insider trading and conflicts of interest among their own members and force lawmakers to be more transparent about their financial dealings.
But many members of Congress have not fully complied with the law. They offer excuses including ignorance of the law, clerical errors, and mistakes by an accountant.
The Western Journal also noted that “the lawmakers either reported their transactions late or failed to report them altogether. The stock deals range in value from five figures to millions of dollars.”
The penalty for a member of Congress in violation of the STOCK Act is usually a small fine. And, this obviously doesn’t do much to stop insider trading.
The fine for congressmen and women is $200.
Insider trading is on everyone’s minds since Nancy Pelosi’s husband bought $5,000,000 in stock for a computer chip company that benefited from a law about to be passed.
Business Insider shared the list of offenders:
- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California
- Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama
- Sen. Roger Marshall, a Republican from Kansas
- Sen. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat from Colorado
- Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky
- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island
- Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican from Florida
- Sen. Tom Carper, a Democrat from Delaware
- Sen. Bill Hagerty, a Republican from Tennessee
- Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming
- Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat from Michigan
- Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona
- Rep. Tom Malinowski, a Democrat from New Jersey
- Rep. Pat Fallon, a Republican from Texas
- Rep. Diana Harshbarger, a Republican from Tennessee
- Rep. Susie Lee, a Democrat of Nevada
- Rep. Madison Cawthorn, a Republican from North Carolina
- Rep. Katherine Clark, a Democrat from Massachusetts
- Rep. Blake Moore, a Republican from Utah
- Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland
- Rep. Mo Brooks, a Republican from Alabama
- Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican from Colorado
- Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Republican from Texas
- Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat from Florida
- Rep. Kathy Manning, a Democrat from North Carolina
- Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat from New Jersey
- Rep. Kevin Hern, a Republican from Oklahoma
- Rep. Brian Mast, a Republican from Florida
- Rep. Brad Schneider, a Democrat from Illinois
- Rep. Michael Guest, a Republican from Mississippi
- Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, a Democrat from New York
- Rep. Lori Trahan, a Democrat from Massachusetts
- Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, a Democrat from Pennsylvania
- Rep. John Rutherford, a Republican from Florida
- Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat from New Jersey
- Rep. Mark Green, a Republican from Tennessee
- Rep. David Trone, a Democrat from Maryland
- Rep. Pete Sessions, a Republican from Texas
- Rep. Dan Meuser, a Republican from Pennsylvania
- Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat from Texas
- Rep. Kathy Castor, a Democrat of Florida
- Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican from Florida
- Rep. Bill Pascrell, a Democrat of New Jersey
- Rep. August Pfluger, a Republican from Texas
- Rep. Brian Higgins, a Democrat from New York
- Rep. Cheri Bustos, a Democrat from Illinois
- Rep. Steve Chabot, a Republican from Ohio
- Rep. Victoria Spartz, a Republican from Indiana
- Rep. Rick Allen, a Republican from Georgia
- Rep. Kim Schrier, a Democrat from Washington
- Rep. Kurt Schrader, a Democrat from Oregon
- Rep. Mike Kelly, a Republican from Pennsylvania
- Rep. Chris Jacobs, a Republican from New York
- Rep. Bobby Scott, a Democrat from Virginia
- Rep. Austin Scott, a Republican from Georgia
- Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Democrat from Colorado
- Rep. Dwight Evans, a Democrat from Pennsylvania
- Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat from New York
- Rep. Warren Davidson, a Republican from Ohio
- Rep. Lance Gooden, a Republican from Texas
- Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Republican from Tennessee
- Rep. Michael Burgess, a Republican from Texas
- Rep. Cindy Axne, a Democrat from Iowa
- Del. Michael San Nicolas, a Democrat from Guam
- Rep. Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont
- Rep. Jim Banks, a Republican from Indiana
- Rep. Mike Garcia, a Republican from California
- Rep. Rob Wittman, a Republican from Virginia
- Rep. Alan Lowenthal, a Democrat from California
- Rep. Jim Hagedorn, a Republican from Minnesota
- Rep. Roger Williams, a Republican from Texas
Nancy Pelosi cannot be found on the list because she did report her transactions.
However, she and her husband have a very extensive history of questionable stock trades over the years.
The American people’s confidence in our government continues to fall, as we see more and more each day the level of corruption occurring.

