A bipartisan group of senators reached a deal Wednesday on legislation to ban stock trading by members of Congress, setting the bill up for action in the Senate later this month.
“We have finally figured out a way to pass this law with a big enough loophole for us all to continue to partake in all of the insider trading we want through other family members or our bagmen. I mean lawyers.”
Honestly though, Merkley on board is actually a great sign in my opinion.
Meh I lost some respect for Merkley when he did his publicity stunt of bringing the media and trying to get into the ICE facility unannounced to see how the kids were living under Trump but then never mentioned the detainment or living conditions again once the news cycle refreshed. Wyden on the other hand has been killing it by blasting the government on matters of privacy and surveillance for years with his position on the Intelligence Committee.
In any case, with this being a bipartisan bill, I’m sure there are healthy loopholes carved out (or plans for future amendments) in this bill.
Bill dies in committee in 3, 2, 1…
From the article:
The deal would immediately prohibit members of Congress from buying stocks and selling stocks 90 days after the bill is signed into law.
It would also ban member spouses and dependent children from trading stocks starting in March 2027. Penalties for violating the law would either be the monthly salary of a lawmaker or 10% of the value of each asset they buy or sell.
AFTER BEING SIGNED INTO LAW seems like a huge loophole to me. They can just trade while they’re talking about it or right after it passes but hasn’t been signed, etc etc.
So they just have to make more than 10% and they can still do it without a real barrier?
Hmm. Is there any restriction on them providing information to someone else and having them trade? The article text doesn’t say so.
Penalties for violating the law would either be the monthly salary of a lawmaker or 10% of the value of each asset they buy or sell.
Because I’m sure no one would make more than that and just take the trade off. And then take credit for saving the tax payers money. That’s definitely not the kind of thing that would happen in the Congress I know.
if this law becomes a 10% levy on politicians trading stocks, ill take that as a win
People settling like this just empowers these people to continue grifting us. We shouldn’t be satisfied with the bare minimum.
havent they tried this a few times… and each time its either abandoned or some loopholes are created making the endeavor pointless?
From the article:
**The big picture: **Previous efforts to get a stock trading ban passed through Congress have failed over the last few years.
- But the bipartisan backing in the Senate could tee up the bill for rare progress during an election year.
- The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will mark up the bill on July 24.
