Public Citizen Calls Upon Speaker Johnson to Honestly Address the Problem of Congressional Insider Trading
Over the last several months, two comprehensive bills to ban congressional stock trading have gained in popularity in Congress and the public – the “Restore Trust in Congress Act” (H.R. 5106) and “Retore Trust in Government Act” (H.R. 6731). The first bill is bipartisan consensus legislation with 123 cosponsors and the second bill is offered by the Democratic leadership that copies the first and extends its reach to the executive branch as well. As the bills gain ground, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) now plans on introducing a weak compromise.
Craig Holman, Ph.D., government affairs lobbyist with Public Citizen issued the following statement:
“Speaker Mike Johnson is about to offer a fig leaf to coverup the problem of congressional insider trading. It is important that Congress does not buy into this band aid.
“Congressional insider trading on the stock market continues to be a very real problem. Even the allegations of insider trading by members of Congress – who sit on committee perches overseeing the same industries of which they buy and sell stocks – casts a deep pale on the integrity of Congress. There are two carefully crafted bills that address this problem head-on H.R. 5106 and H.R. 6731. Both are honest solutions that have been gaining ground in Congress and are overwhelmingly supported by the public.
“In a last-minute effort to derail these reforms, Johnson is planning on bringing to the floor his little patchwork of pre-disclosure of congressional stock trading and restrictions on new stocks. While disclosure is always a good thing, it is not enough to stop insider trading. The STOCK Act of 2012 set up a disclosure regime and scandal after scandal of members trading on insider knowledge, or even manipulating stock markets for personal benefit, continue to rock the congressional landscape. As long as members are allowed to hold stocks, the problems continue.
“Public Citizen challenges Speaker Johnson to bring up for a floor vote these real solutions to the problem of congressional insider trading. A majority of Congress already appears ready to do what is right. Let it happen.”