It has been years since efforts to stop lawmakers from trading stocks failed to gain enough support. On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of four senators announced a new effort.
Senators said they had agreed on a bill that would make it illegal for members of Congress, their spouses, and their children or dependents to buy, hold, or sell individual stocks. The bill, which is called the ETHICS Act, will be worked on by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Committee on July 24.
A Democrat from Oregon, Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Republican from Missouri, and two Democrats from Georgia, Sen. Jon Ossoff, and a third Democrat from Michigan all spoke at a news conference about the bill. “We must be here to serve the public, not our portfolios,” Merkley said. Peters is in charge of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee in the Senate.
A news release from the committee says that the July 24 markup session will be the first time that a Senate panel has taken this action with a bill that would not allow lawmakers to trade stocks.
