[President Joe Biden]
“Nobody in the Congress, should be able to make money in the stock market while they’re in the Congress. “

[Simone Del Rosario]

In the waning hours of his administration, President Joe Biden took a stance on an issue that has split members of Congress.

Banning members from trading stock has bipartisan support, but for some reason, it hasn’t gotten a vote.

It is illegal for members of Congress to trade using knowledge from their jobs. That’s the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act, which passed back in 2012. The law also forces more transparency in their personal finances, like disclosing trades in a timely manner they, their spouse or a dependent child make.

But according to analysis of trading by members of Congress, members and their staffers routinely violate this law.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger:

We continue to see story after story hit the headlines of members of Congress who bought or sold stock relative or related to the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. Before that, it was the invasion of Ukraine. Before that, it was COVID.

Simone Del Rosario:

So the STOCK Act isn’t stopping that. And now bipartisan calls are growing louder for Congress to ban stock trading altogether.

Sen. Josh Hawley:

The truth is, Congress should not be here to make a buck. Congress should be here to serve the American people. There is no reason why members of Congress ought to be profiting off of the information that only they get.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger:

The easiest, most straightforward way to achieve this is to ban members of Congress from trading stocks. And I am so proud that we continue to have an ever growing coalition. The bill that I lead with Congressman chip Roy has more than 55 co sponsors, Democrats, Republicans, across the board, geography wise, across the board, political ideology wise because this common sense solution of banning members of Congress from trading stocks just makes sense.

Simone Del Rosario:

Some congressional members are so successful trading stock that regular folk have started tracking their trades.

You can even invest in funds that mimic their buys and sells. NANC, which tracks Democrats trading habits, is up over 32% this year, outpacing the S&P 500. Meanwhile, KRUZ, which tracks Republicans, is up just 17%.

While some lawmakers and now the lame-duck president are on board with a congressional stock trading ban, a defacto leader in the Democratic Party has often come out against it.

Reporter: should members of Congress and their houses be banned from trading individual stocks while serving in Congress?
Rep. Nancy Pelosi: No to the second one.

Reporter cross talk: why shouldn’t it be banned?
Rep. Nancy Pelosi: because this is a free market, and people, we are free market economy, they should be able to participate in that.

Simone Del Rosario:

The trading acumen of Pelosi and her husband Paul often make headlines. Pelosi is one of the wealthiest members of Congress with a net worth around a quarter of a billion dollars. Biden took pride in where he stood on the list when he was a Senator.

Joe Biden:
“For 36 years I was listed as the poorest man in the Senate, not a joke. You know that, listening to him, I mean in Congress, not the Senate, House and Senate, I never thought I was poor. I had a salary that a senator made. But you know, I don’t know how you look at constituents in the eye, and know, because the job they gave you, gave you an inside track to make more money.”

Simone Del Rosario:

It’s tough to gauge the impact of Biden’s support of this legislation in his final weeks. But President-elect Donald Trump rang the same bell when announcing he would seek the nation’s highest office once again.

Donald Trump:
“We want a ban on members of Congress getting rich by trading stocks on insider information.”