WASHINGTON, DC— Bipartisan legislation led by U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) to ban Members of Congress, the President, the Vice President, and their spouses and dependent children from holding, buying, or selling stocks has advanced out of committee. The committee passed the Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act, which is based on the historic bipartisan legislation that was approved last year that was negotiated by Peters, Hawley and U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA). The legislation would immediately ban Members of Congress, the President, and Vice President from buying stocks and other covered investments and prohibit them from selling stocks 90 days after enactment. It also requires Members of Congress, the President and the Vice President to divest from all covered investments, starting at the beginning of their next term in office. The bill was approved by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where Peters serves as Ranking Member.
“Americans deserve to have complete confidence that federal elected officials are working in their constituents’ best interests—not their own financial interests,” said Senator Peters. “By passing this legislation out of committee with bipartisan support, we are one step closer to getting this bill passed into law and finally barring bad actors from taking advantage of their positions for their own financial gain. I’m grateful that the Committee advanced this commonsense legislation that will help restore Americans’ faith that their elected officials are truly working on behalf of the people.”
“Americans have watched politicians earn a fortune using information not available to the general public while the average family struggles to get by. It’s just wrong,” said Senator Hawley. “Members of Congress should be focused on delivering results for their constituents, not returns on investments. It’s time to find out where members stand. It’s time we restore trust in Congress and ban all members from trading and holding stocks.”
“For over a decade, I’ve fought for comprehensive legislation to ban Congressional stock trading, and last year, such a bill passed out of committee for the first time ever,” said Senator Merkley. “That bill has come out of committee again under the name the HONEST Act. Everyone in America understands this issue— owning individual stocks can affect how elected officials think about an issue as they’re voting or crafting policy, when what they should be thinking about is how best to serve their constituents and our country. We work for the people, not our profits. If President Trump is serious about cracking down on this corrupt practice, he should urge Congress to immediately pass a comprehensive Congressional stock trading ban.”
“This is a historic moment in efforts to reform the ethics laws that govern Congress. Georgians overwhelmingly agree that Members of Congress should not be playing the stock market while we legislate and while we have access to confidential and privileged information,” Senator Ossoff said. “This is long overdue and necessary, and today we made historic progress passing our bipartisan bill out of Committee.”
The bipartisan HONEST Act as passed by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee would:
- Ban Members of Congress, the President, and Vice President from buying covered assets immediately after enactment and from selling covered assets 90 days after enactment. Covered assets include securities, commodities, futures, options, trusts, and other comparable holdings.
- Require elected officials, their spouses, and dependent children to divest covered assets beginning at the start of their next term in office.
- Increase penalties for violations of STOCK Act disclosure requirements from $200 to $500.
To see the text of the bipartisan HONEST Act as passed by the committee, click here.
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