WASHINGTON, DC: This week, Congresswoman Kiggans urged House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries to hold a vote on legislation that would ban Members of Congress from owning and trading individual stocks. She joined Congressmen Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) and Jared Golden (ME-02), as well as 17 other Members in writing to House leadership, calling for a vote on any of the several bills introduced this Congress that would end the practice of congressional stock trading.
“Members of Congress should not be allowed to financially benefit from knowledge gained in their official capacity,” said Congresswoman Kiggans. “We are elected to serve the people, not ourselves, and it is wrong to take advantage of information not available to the general public. I thank Congressman Fitzpatrick and Golden for leading this bipartisan effort to maintain transparency and accountable governance in Congress.”
Last year, Congresswoman Kiggans cosponsored H.R. 2678, the Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act, which was introduced by Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08). This legislation would disallow Members of Congress from owning individual stocks, requiring they hold mutual funds, ETFs, or place their holdings in a blind trust.
The letter Congresswoman Kiggans signed on to this week can be found here and below:
Dear Speaker Johnson and Minority Leader Jeffries:
We are writing to respectfully urge you to hold a vote on legislation to prohibit members of Congress from owning or trading stocks. As we head into the last few months of the 118th Congress, we believe that taking action on this common-sense, bipartisan legislation will ensure that members of Congress are serving the country and their constituents, not their bank accounts.
As you know, Congress passed the STOCK Act in 2012 to prevent members of Congress from using non-public information that they receive in the course of their work for personal stock trading benefits. However, recent investigations have found that 1 in 7 members violated the STOCK Act in the 117th Congress,1 97 members traded stocks in companies impacted by their committee assignments from 2019 to 2021,2 and members outperformed the S&P 500 by 17.5% in 2022.3 It is abundantly clear that more is needed to stop this type of behavior that is not only unethical but also undermines the public trust in our democratic institutions.
Fortunately, several bipartisan bills to prohibit members from owning or trading stocks have been introduced in the House. Our constituents across the political spectrum support these efforts. According to recent polling, 86 percent of Americans– including 87 percent of Republicans, 88 percent of Democrats, and 81 percent of Independents– support prohibiting members of Congress and their families from trading stocks.
It’s been nearly two years since House leadership committed to holding a vote on a bill to reform stock trading practices for Members of Congress. In a hyper-partisan political environment where American approval ratings of Congress are at an all-time low, this is a common-sense and bipartisan change, making it crystal clear that we come to Washington to serve our constituents, not to serve our own financial interests.
We stand ready to work with you to advance this important legislative priority into law. Let’s get this done.
About the Author
Perhaps passing this bill would signal to the American people that politicians understand that this act might raise their ethics, however small the impact.