In addition to Wall Street, a group of "stock gods" have also emerged on Capitol Hill in the United States, with the former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives being the most well-known and becoming the target of investor pursuit. At the same time, these "stock gods" suspected of using their positions to trade stocks have also been widely criticized by the outside world.
On Wednesday local time, a bipartisan panel of senators announced a new bill that would prohibit members of Congress from trading stocks.
Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley, along with Michigan Democratic Senator Gary Peters, Oregon Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, and Georgia Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, announced this compromise bill.
The bill will be submitted to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee later this month. Michigan Democratic Senator Gary Peters, who participated in the proposal, is currently the Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
This legislation is of milestone significance as it will be the first stock trading bill formally reviewed by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
This bill is a modification of the Merkleys Ethics Act, which will immediately prohibit members of Congress from purchasing stocks and other investments, and prohibit members from selling stocks within 90 days after the bill is enacted.
If signed into law, the bill will also prohibit the spouses and dependent children of legislators from trading stocks starting from March 2027. It also requires members of Congress, the President, and the Vice President to withdraw their investments from all participating investments starting from the same year.
The proposed law will also impose huge fines on members of Congress who violate trading bans. The penalty for violating the withdrawal requirements of the bill will be 10% of the official's monthly salary or the value of each violation asset, whichever is greater. The bill also raises the threshold for non reporting fines under the Securities Act from $200 to $500.
"Congress should not make money here, Congress should serve the people here," Holly said when announcing the bill. "Members of Congress have no reason to profit from information that only they themselves can obtain and that other Americans cannot."
"The public should believe that the decisions made by federal elected officials are in the best interest of the American people, rather than their own personal finances," Peters said in a statement. "I am committed to advancing this bill through my committee and bringing it closer to becoming law to rebuild trust in the government, reassure Americans, and believe that Congress has been working for them."
Since the 2009 financial crisis, the personal stock trading of US congressmen has been under scrutiny, and in the past few years, this scrutiny has greatly increased, especially after some members engage in profitable trading.
This proposal is the latest effort within Congress for many years to pass laws to restrict lawmakers from trading stocks. Previously, Congressmen Alexander Ocasio Cortes and Matt Gates jointly proposed a stock trading ban in 2023, but the bill did not make progress.