America may be divided on a lot of things but the country is incredibly unified on this. A recent poll found that found that 76% of voters believe that members of Congress and their spouses have an “unfair advantage” in the stock market – just 5% of respondents approved of members trading stocks.
On Wednesday two Democratic senators (Jon Ossoff from Georgia and Mark Kelly from Arizona) introduced the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act, which would prevent congressional lawmakers and their immediate families from picking stocks. Spotting that this would clearly go down well with the public, Republicans immediately got in on the act. Josh Hawley announced a competing proposal to limit stock trading just hours after. On Friday it was reported that Ted Cruz might introduce his own legislation.
Hawley and Cruz aren’t exactly known for championing progressive issues: why are they so keen on being the face of this? Most likely, I reckon, because they don’t think the legislation will really go anywhere but championing it will make them look good. And also, of course, because it gives them a perfect opportunity to bash house speaker Nancy Pelosi who, along with her husband Paul Pelosi, are extremely active, and very successful in the market.