Jerri-Lynn here: I’m naturally suspicious of legislative proposals being heavily touted by the core of the current Democratic leadership, especially Chuck Schumer — although Nancy Pelosi’s opposition is almost certainly a welcome sign. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that the current rules are too lax. As with so much financial regulation, the devil is in the details. As happened in the Dodd-Frank fiasco, I fear that any reforms that current members of Congress can agree to will be overly complex and full of loopholes, so when all is said and done, one wonders, what’s the point?

In retrospect, however, we once knew how to make puzzling reforms. Look at the New Deal legislation, especially the securities regulatory framework. So, let’s just say that this situation deserves careful scrutiny.

by Jack Johnson.Originally Posted in common dream

Momentum is growing for a widely popular effort by lawmakers to ban stock trading, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reportedly instructing fellow Democrats to rally behind a specific legislative proposal.

“After weeks of silence, Senate Democratic leaders have asked lawmakers to propose improvements to congressional stock trading rules,” Insider Report“During a conference call Friday, Democratic leadership told Democratic Senators’ legislative directors that they want to bring the Congressional Stock Trading Ban Bill to the U.S. Senate.”

The development comes as Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) ignores prominent Democratic leaders, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (California) – and unveil Legislation that prohibits members of Congress and their spouses and children from buying and selling stocks while in office.

“It’s working. Keep pushing,” Ossoff tweet On Sunday, the openness of the Senate Democratic leadership to the proposed ban was underscored.

So far, just Eight Senate Democrats Formally signed as a co-sponsor of the Ossoff Act (S.3494), which he introduced last month with Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).

Sean Eldridge, founder and president of Stand Up America, said: “Now is the time for Congress to act and ban members from trading stocks while they are in office.” Say Sunday.

Despite broad public support and growing support from rank-and-file lawmakers, some Democratic leaders remain opposed to banning stock trading. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) Say Last week, he was “not sure” such a ban was necessary given existing rules against insider trading – which critics say are too slack and rarely implemented.

As far as Schumer is concerned, he said last month that he “doesn’t have any stock” and that banning current lawmakers from personal trading would be “the right thing to do.”

It is unclear who Sen. Joe Manchin (DW.Va.), a key swing vote own shares At his son’s West Virginia coal enterprise, he supports the proposal.

“I don’t own any stock and I think it’s the right thing to do.”

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer commented on the recent push to ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks. pic.twitter.com/pZ3V7EE4pm

– Forbes (@Forbes) January 11, 2022

recent analyze Capitol Trades Financial Documents and Reports Market Watch Members of Congress or their families were found to have traded about $355 million worth of stock in 2021, a year in which the coronavirus pandemic killed hundreds of thousands of people in the United States and left many in financial distress.

Although insider trading has already commonplace On Capitol Hill, dubious timed trades during the pandemic — especially shortly after Covid-19 was discovered in the US — have drawn new attention to lawmakers’ use of secret information to buy and sell stocks.

Ossoff’s Republican opponent in the 2021 U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia, former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) prolific stock trader,he is defendant Use inside information to buy stocks in companies that will benefit from the pandemic.

“Recent disclosures about stock trading at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and recession, the growing prevalence of violations of the Stock Act reporting requirements, and the investigations and even convictions of members of Congress for insider trading have helped to stimulate the public interest and Media scrutiny of real and perceived corruption in Congress,” a coalition of 14 advocacy groups wrote in an article letter Backed Ossoff’s legislation last month.

“The public needs to know that Congress recognizes the issue of insider trading as an issue that undermines its own legitimacy and erodes voter trust,” the coalition added. “The good news is that Congress was able to respond to this concern in a meaningful way by advancing S. 3494 and sending it to President Biden’s desk for his signature.”