Washington, D.C. — Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) joined U.S. Senators Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and other Senate colleagues in introducing the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act. The bill would require all members of Congress and their immediate family members to place their stocks into a blind trust or divest their holdings to ensure they cannot profit from insider information.
“Members of Congress should spend their time in Washington representing the American people – not worrying about their own bottom line,” said Bennet. “This common-sense legislation would go a long way toward restoring the American people’s faith in our government.”
“Members of Congress should not be playing the stock market while we make Federal policy and have extraordinary access to confidential information,” said Ossoff. “Stock trading by members of Congress massively erodes public confidence in Congress with serious appearance of impropriety, which is why we should ban stock trading by members of Congress altogether.”
“Elected officials don’t just make policy; they also have access to valuable information that shapes different industries and the entire economy. Members of Congress should be focused on representing their constituents, not their stock portfolios,” said Kelly. “I’m reintroducing this legislation with Sen. Ossoff to prevent corrupt insider trading and make Washington work better for Arizonans.”
In addition to Bennet, Ossoff, and Kelly, the bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).
Bennet has continuously worked to restore Americans’ trust in their government and fight the corrupting influence of money in politics. In July, Bennet and U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-Mont.) introduced the Close the Revolving Door Act to ban members of Congress from ever becoming lobbyists, increasing transparency and accountability in Washington. In February, Bennet joined colleagues to reintroduce the DISCLOSE Act to enhance disclosure requirements for organizations spending money in elections. He has introduced a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United by restoring authority to Congress, states, and the American people to regulate campaign finance. Bennet also introduced the ZOMBIE Act to require politicians no longer running for office to close their old campaign accounts.
The text of the bill is available HERE.
