I have zero problem agreeing with her. When someone is correct, they’re correct
AOC says it’s ‘not really a mystery’ why Congress hasn’t passed a stock trading ban for lawmakers given that ‘an enormous amount’ of them trade stocks
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York offered a blunt assessment of why members of Congress haven’t voted to ban themselves from trading stocks: because many of them hold lots of stock themselves.
In an interview with Yahoo Finance published on Wednesday, the progressive congresswoman said that it’s “not a mystery to me” why a stock trading ban is “difficult to pass” in Congress, given that “an enormous amount” of members hold stock.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the majority of members of Congress holding and trading and individual stock,” she said. “I don’t know the actual numbers, but it is a very large degree.”
Insider’s “Conflicted Congress” investigation found that 277 lawmakers did not report owning individual stock investments in 2020 — which would mean just under half of lawmakers do have such investments.
Insider also found that existing provisions to combat insider trading, particular the STOCK Act, are poorly enforced, and dozens of lawmakers and nearly 200 staffers have violated the law’s disclosure provisions.
And she’s part of legislation
The New York congresswoman is a co-sponsor of the Ban Conflicted Trading Act, one of several different bills that would ban lawmakers from trading stocks. Notably, the bill allows members to continue holding widely held investment funds.
However, the ban supported by Ocasio-Cortez does not include spouses, which some have identified as a potential “loophole” in any potential reforms, given that spouses presumably discuss personal finances with one another.
Realistically, no one working on Capitol Hill should be allowed to trade stock, from elected officials to their staff to high ranking appointed Executive Office officials, to those working directly for the President and VP. It’d be nice if spouses and family members were restricted, but, as “private” citizens, restricting them would probably be illegal. But, they can be investigated quite a bit.
(Market Watch) (the link goes to Pocket, since the article is behind a paywall) So who were the biggest traders? The table below, based on a Capitol Trades analysis, shows the 41 members of Congress who made stock buys or sells in 2021 with an estimated value of at least $500,000 — or had family members who made such trades.
At the top of the list of the biggest traders on Capitol Hill by dollar volume is Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, who disclosed an estimated $31 million in stock buys and $35 million in stock sales. He’s followed by Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California with $34 million in estimated purchases and $19 million in sales, GOP Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee with $26 million in estimated buys and $26 million in sells, and Democratic Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington state with $15 million in estimated buys and $31 million in sells.
Pelosi, in case you’re wondering, had $12 million in transactions. It’s a nice little bipartisan list, and we see things like
(Ro) Khanna’s (D-Ca) biggest trades included purchases by his spouse of shares in Walgreens Boots Alliance WBA and Microsoft MSFT, along with purchases by a child of shares in Apple AAPL, communications company RingCentral RNG and Facebook parent Meta Platforms FB. The California congressman’s spokeswoman said he “does not own any individual stocks and complies fully with the Ban Conflicted Trading Act, which would prohibit lawmakers from buying or selling individual stocks.” That’s a reference to legislation that has attracted 35 co-sponsors in the House and three in the Senate.
“These are his wife’s assets prior to marriage and managed by an outside financial advisor. No trading is done through joint accounts,” Khanna’s spokeswoman also said.
Wink wink. He’s totally not involved, certainly not giving her info on legislation.
“I let a manager handle it,” Green said in that interview, when asked about efforts to ban lawmakers from trading in individual stocks. “I’ve written it into a letter: ‘Do not take any instructions from me. Don’t listen to me on television and make any decisions.’ And I let him make all of the decisions. I’m for people doing it that way.”
He also said “getting insider information is a crime,” and laws against it “should be enforced.”
That would be Mark Green (R-Tn). And he could be on the up and up, as could a lot of them. But, without serious enforcement, how are we to know.
Read: AOC Makes Sense On Congressional Stock Trades »