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The Pros And Cons Of The STOCK Act

1225 Words5 Pages

“The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen. by the People of the Several States,” which is clearly stated in the Constitution of the United States (U.S. Constitution art. 1 sec. 2). The adage of the adage. Senators are similarly elected by the people of the United States. Because they are elected by the people, Congress members have a moral duty to vote in the way their constituents would prefer and in a way that protects the interests of their constituents, especially if they want to be reelected. However, this moral duty becomes challenged when Congress members stand to gain financially from how they vote. The vast majority of Congress members own stock or investment funds, and they are currently free to trade those …show more content…

Because of these arguments, Senator Jon Ossoff has introduced a new bill, the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act, which would require Congress members to place their stocks in a blind trust during their time in office so that they cannot trade with insider knowledge. Senator Ossoff states that the passing of this bill would require Congress members to be “focused on representing their constituents, not their stock portfolios” (Ossoff 2023). This is an idea that many supporters of a congressional stock trading ban agree with, as they believe that Congress people will do a better job representing the people who voted for them if they are not focused on trading individual stocks but rather have their stocks placed in an account that they have little knowledge …show more content…

One of these lawmakers is Nancy Pelosi, who argues that “we’re a free market economy” and that lawmakers “should be able to participate in that” (Mangan 2021). These lawmakers don’t want to be treated differently from normal citizens and argue that they should be allowed to own stocks. Those who oppose a ban on stock trading for Congress members believe that Congress members shouldn’t have their rights to participate in the American economy taken away just because of their position as lawmakers. Additionally, they argue that the STOCK Act provides enough protections against insider training, as it already requires that lawmakers report all stock trades, so if constituents disagree with how their Congress members are managing their stock portfolio, they can hold them accountable at election time. The STOCK Act also gives the SEC the power to investigate any cases of insider trading, which is a clear deterrent to insider trading. For these reasons, some members of the American public believe that the stock trading regulations already in place for Congress members are strong enough, and a further ban does not need to be

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