Two senators are trying to end stock-trading by members of Congress.
The bill text for both theBanning Insider Trading in Congress Act and theBan Congressional Stock Trading Act was obtained by Insider.
Ossoff said that members of Congress should not be playing the stock market while they are making federal policy. Mark Kelly of Arizona said the proposal would "put an end to corrupt insider trading."
After reports this week that House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy is interested in curtailing stock-trading by members, Hawley told POLITICO that he was open to co-sponsoring a bill from Ossoff.
According to a report on Wednesday, talks between the offices of Ossoff and Hawley had stopped, and that Hawley would be introducing his own bill. The two youngest members of the Senate are Hawley and Ossoff.
According to reports, Ossoff's bill includes dependent children who may have access to the same privileged information as their lawmaking parent, while Hawley's does not. The enforcement mechanism is different between the two.
The fines for violating Ossoff and Kelly's bill would be the entire of their congressional salaries. The freshman senator narrowly defeated the former senator.
The bill would require violators to give up profits from stock-trading directly to the US Treasury.
The bipartisan TRUST in Congress Act, which would require members and their family members to place stock holdings into a blind trust, is broadly similar to Ossoff and Kelly's bill. The Ban Conflicted Trading Act has the support of several Democratic senators.
Nancy Pelosi has faced criticism since rejecting the idea of a ban last month. We are a free-market economy. She told Insider that they should be able to participate.
Democratic leaders have been slow to react to McCarthy's interest in the idea.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Hakeem Jeffries dodged the question of whether they would support a stock-trading ban. Schumer doesn't own any stocks.
Insider's "Conflicted Congress" investigation found dozens of lawmakers and 182 senior congressional staffers in violation of the anti-insider trading Stop Trading on Conflicted Knowledge Act. Insider has identified many examples of federal lawmakers trading stocks in industries they oversee as part of their congressional committee assignments.
The idea of banning congress and their spouses from stock trading is wildly popular, with up to 76% of the public behind it, according to recent polling.
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