U. S. Congress may ban stock trading
2023.01.02 15:17
U. S. Congress may ban stock trading
Budrigannews.com – At one point, many members of Congress on both sides of the aisle in the United States said they would support legislation that would prevent members from investing in stocks or cryptocurrency. This is a proposal that the 118th Congress could take up if the leadership changes.
Following the midterm elections in 2022, Republicans will take control of the House of Representatives with a slim majority beginning on January 3, when the next session of the U.S. Congress begins, while Democrats will maintain a majority in the Senate. In January 2022, Kevin McCarthy, a Republican representative who is vying for the position of Speaker of the House, reportedly stated that, in the event that his party wins control of the House, he would seriously consider imposing an absolute ban on lawmakers holding and trading stocks. This proposal is thought to include cryptocurrency.
At the time of publication, it was unclear whether McCarthy possessed the votes necessary to assume leadership of the House, a process that is likely to begin on January 3. However, a lot of people have said that the fact that elected officials can trade and hold some assets while in office could be a conflict of interest.
Members of Congress should not own or trade individual stocks. And neither should their spouses.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) January 2, 2023
According to reports, the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act, which was first passed in 2012, had disclosure requirements that were not met by 77 lawmakers during the 117th session of Congress. Members were still permitted to handle legislation on matters that could have been influenced by their own investments, despite these violations, which included delayed reporting of permissible trades.
For instance, pro-crypto Senator Cynthia Lummis has disclosed investments in Bitcoin (BTC), which the financial regulator considers a commodity. She is on the Senate Agriculture Committee and is in charge of hearings about the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Although he will be retiring in 2023, ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee Senator Pat Toomey has previously disclosed purchases of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
Kevin McCarthy promised if Republicans took over the House, he would act on a stock trading ban. But he’s gone silent.
A group of 5 House Rs say they can’t support McCarthy because he’s not trustworthy.
McCarthy’s Speaker bid is in peril. House members will vote next Tues. pic.twitter.com/dMOrOyeD7I
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) December 28, 2022
In 2022, major controversies in the crypto industry were centered on the financial ties between industry leaders and lawmakers in the United States. Many in the industry questioned lawmakers’ objectivity during hearings aimed at investigating the collapse of the crypto exchange, as executives at FTX, including former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, made contributions to politicians and campaigns for both Republicans and Democrats.
In September, Zoe Lofgren, chair of the Committee on House Administration, presented a plan to amend the STOCK Act to prohibit Members of Congress and the Supreme Court, their spouses, and their dependent children “from trading stock or holding investments in securities, commodities, futures, cryptocurrency, and other similar investments.”
There was no development in the proposed arrangement change in 2022, yet the Government Open Market Board supported comparative standards restricting senior authorities at the Fed from buying and holding crypto.
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