Long-awaited legislation banning members of Congress from being able to trade individual stocks is ready to come to a vote as soon as this month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said in her weekly news briefing on Wednesday. Lawmakers have been discussing the legislation for months and made some revelations on Wednesday morning, Pelosi said. “We believe we have a product that we can bring to the floor this month,” she said, which she characterized as “exciting.” It’s unclear what’s in the bill or how much support it will have from Congress, though the general idea does appear to have…
Anti-Corruption
22 Government Watchdogs Ask Pelosi and Schumer to Act on Congressional Stock Ban
A coalition of government watchdog and advocacy groups sent a letter to Democratic leaders on Tuesday, urging them to take action to ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks, a move the organizations say is crucial to protecting democracy and preserving Congress’s legitimacy. The group of 22 organizations told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) in their letter that the Democrats must bring a stock ban to a vote before the November elections usher in a new Congress, and that the leaders must throw their support behind a ban in order to…
Millions in ‘dark money’ donations from the US going to Tory Gov’t
Influential right-wing UK think tanks with close access to ministers have received millions in ‘dark money’ donations from the US, openDemocracy can reveal. The TaxPayers’ Alliance, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Policy Exchange, the Adam Smith Institute and the Legatum Institute have raised $9m from American donors since 2012. Of this, at least $6m has been channelled to the UK, according to tax returns filed with US authorities – representing 11% of the think tanks’ total UK receipts, with the figure reaching 23% for the Adam Smith Institute. In that time, all five have steadily increased their connections in…
Warren Unveils New Bill Binding Supreme Court Judges to Ethics Code
As public trust in the Supreme Court rapidly erodes, Democrats in Congress are working to tighten ethics laws around federal courts and increase transparency in order to combat corruption and increase accountability in the U.S. court system. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) introduced a bill on Tuesday that would ban federal judges from trading individual stocks to avoid conflicts of interest and tighten restrictions on gifts they can receive and privately funded events they can attend. The Judicial Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act contains several provisions aimed specifically at the Supreme Court. It would create a binding…
Ocasio-Cortez Warns That Allowing Congress to Trade Stock Erodes Democracy
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) pushed to pass a stock trading ban for lawmakers last week, warning that if such legislation isn’t passed, bad faith actors will take advantage of public mistrust in Congress over members’ ability to trade stocks in order to erode democracy. In a press conference calling for Congress to pass a ban on stock trading, Ocasio-Cortez said that the issue “isn’t just about actual impropriety, but … about the perception of impropriety.” One of the many consequences of corruption and insider trading within Congress, she pointed out, is that it undermines the public’s trust in the…
25 House Democrats Urge Pelosi to Bring Congressional Stock Trading Ban to Vote
On Monday, a group of 27 House representatives sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) urging them to pass legislation that would bar Congress from trading stocks. The letter calls such a ban a “common-sense” move that has the support of both Democrats and Republicans in the chamber. “Both of you have recently addressed this issue in public comments, but this glaring problem will not go away until it is fixed and Congress should not delay when we have the power to fix it,” the letter read. The effort has rare…