Thirty-seven MPs want a third play on their bill, which seeks to prevent insider trading by members of Congress.
The Transparent Representative Maintenance Service and the Trust in Congress (TRUST) Act was first introduced in June 2020 and reintroduced to the House of Representatives in January 2021. However, it never went further.
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On Jan. 12, Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, along with a bipartisan coalition of 35 cosponsors, reintroduced the bill.
“We’ve seen tremendous momentum, we’ve seen growing support in our district, and we’ve seen a growing recognition across the political spectrum that reforms like this are needed now,” Spanberg said in a statement. “
“Our Congressional Confidence Act will demonstrate that lawmakers are focused on serving the interests of the American people — not their own stock portfolios.”
The problem TRUST seeks to solve
If passed, TRUST would effectively prohibit members of Congress, their spouses and children from trading individual stocks and force them to place their investment assets in blind trusts.
The legislation was designed to address the advantage of politicians being well-connected with insiders on new legislation that could affect a company or industry.
While these insights don’t make them clairvoyant, it’s certainly an advantage when it comes to stock market trading.
A survey last year commissioned by the conservative advocacy group Convention of States Action found that more than 75 percent of voters believe lawmakers have an unfair advantage in dealing deals — feelings that are not unfounded.
A Business Insider report revealed that 72 members of Congress failed to report their financial transactions as required by the Congressional Knowledge Stopped Trading Act of 2012.
But a larger Wall Street Journal investigation last year revealed that thousands of Washington officials were engaging in ethical gray trading.
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TRUST aims to reduce that by requiring senior officials and others affected by the bill to sell their holdings when they become members of Congress or by placing them in a blind trust where they would have no control over the transactions.
However, they will still be able to buy diversified ETFs, diversified mutual funds and U.S. Treasury bills, notes or bonds.
“The American people are tired of seeing members of Congress making handsome profits voting on policies that affect the companies they meet with on a regular basis,” Roy told Fox Business.
not the first bill on the matter
The proposed legislation is similar to a bill Democrats introduced last September called the Combating Government Financial Conflicts of Interest Act, which also seeks to limit investment conflicts of interest by politicians and their families.
However, the bill — backed by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — was heavily criticized by both sides of the House because it lacked teeth and had built-in loopholes around blind trust requirements.
Just days before the end of the legislative session, Spanberger slammed the House Administration Committee for introducing “kitchen sink packages that they know are going to crumble as soon as they arrive.”
However, with more co-sponsors than ever before, Spanberger and Roy are optimistic they can pass TRUST and rebuild the trust of the American public.
“We need to do something to stop the betrayal of trust that’s so obvious to the American people that we seem to be doing day deals when we’re supposed to be doing things for the American people,” Roy said in an interview with Fox Business.
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This article is for information only and should not be considered advice. It provides no guarantees of any kind.
