CULPEPER STAR-EXPONENT

More than four years after first introducing legislation to ban insider trading among members of Congress and their family members, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, is once again urging that it get done.

She joined colleagues this week in urging U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to hold a vote on her Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust (TRUST) in Congress Act. The measure first introduced in 2020 would require members — as well as their spouses and dependent children — to put certain investment assets into a qualified blind trust during their entire tenure in Congress, effectively banning them from trading individual stocks.

Spanberger is leading this legislation alongside Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy along with 73 Democrats and Republicans, according to a release from the congresswoman’s office.

Recent investigations found one in seven members of Congress violated the STOCK Act in the 117th Congress, 97 members traded stocks in companies impacted by their committee assignments from 2019 to 2021, and members outperformed the S&P 500 by 17.5% in 2022, according to Spanberger.

“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,” wrote Spanberger and her colleagues in a letter this week to congressional leadership.

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, the letter states.

“Americans across the political spectrum and across the country are tired of seeing headline after headline suggesting that lawmakers are profiting off their access to privileged information. For more than four years, I’ve led an effort to remove even the perception of impropriety by removing lawmakers’ ability to play the stock market — and I’ve been grateful for the support of Congressman Golden, Congressman Fitzpatrick, and dozens of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle,” said Spanberger in a statement.

“As we enter the final stretch of the 118th Congress, I urge Speaker Johnson to build on our bipartisan momentum and bring bipartisan legislation to the U.S. House floor that would ban Members of Congress from trading individual stocks. Because Members of Congress should be focused on the people they serve — not their own stock portfolios.”

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, also this week applauded another bipartisan proposal he is co-sponsoring to ban stock trading by members of Congress.

“Members of Congress are elected to serve their constituents, not themselves,” said Kaine. “We need to take steps to ensure the American public can be confident that Congress is working for them, and banning stock trading by members of Congress is a commonsense way to achieve that goal.”