Unlikely allies: Trump, Pelosi and the push to ban congressional stock trading

It s rare to find areas of agreement between President Donald Trump and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi But they re both supporting a congressional bill that will ban members of Congress and their households from trading stocks The law which cleared its committee of jurisdiction in late July has broad bipartisan assistance and will help root out population corruption while restoring Americans confidence in Congress Common sense would suggest that Congress shouldn t be actively trading stocks and bonds while they re holding office And of those surveyed in as part of a University of Maryland evaluation favored a ban on congressional stock trading with Republicans and Democrats showing nearly identical levels of backing As Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emphasized in an Aug interview the credibility of the House and Senate is at stake when members business individual stocks He highlighted the eye-popping returns specific members have earned noting that every hedge fund would be jealous of them WHAT FED MUST DO NOW AFTER JEROME POWELL'S JACKSON HOLE EPIPHANYFrom the perspective of a Treasury official this issue goes beyond ethics It touches the integrity of our financial system Markets rely on trust transparency and a level playing field When members of Congress arrangement stocks with access to information or influence that ordinary investors don t have it undermines general confidence in both establishment and the financial sector Treasury leadership has a vested interest in ensuring that initiative is made to serve the constituents good not to generate personal profit because the credibility of the United States as a financial steward depends on it In addition to President Trump and Pelosi there are several other unlikely bedfellows in Congress supporting the ban They include liberals like Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez D-N Y and Sen Ron Wyden D-Ore and conservatives like Rep Chip Roy R-Texas and Sen Josh Hawley R-Mo Notably both Mike Johnson R-La the House speaker and Hakeem Jeffries D-N Y the minority leader patronage the ban ARE PRESIDENT TRUMP S TARIFFS VERITABLY WORKING Pelosi s help for the act is noteworthy given her families well-documented history with stock trading Last year her husband Paul made headlines by selling between and million worth of Visa shares just a meager weeks before the Justice Department brought a civil antitrust suit against the company The transaction led to speculation that Paul Pelosi may have been tipped off by his wife or contacts in the Biden administration about the likelihood of a filing against Visa Filed just six weeks before the presidential balloting the Visa suit s monopoly claim was undermined by a simple fact the architecture faces robust competition from other debit card companies as well as newer payment networks such as Zelle and Venmo But as the legal process unfolds the issue of congressional stock trading remains And the volume of activity is breathtaking Last year members of Congress made more than trades according to Capitol Trades a platform that tracks sphere trading by U S elected leaders The performance by various of the members suggests they should move to Wall Street The top six Republicans and four Democrats all had returns exceeding according to another platform Rare Whales And this was in a year when the S P only returned There is destined to be even more trading this year Through Aug there had already been nearly trades involving more than million I HAD TO LEAVE CALIFORNIA TO SAVE MY BUSINESS NOW THERE S HOPEIs this trading influencing community program It s hard to know definitively But a sparse years ago the New York Times examined trades made by members of Congress from through The paper stated that there were senators or representatives who published trades by themselves or immediate family members in stocks or other financial assets that intersected with the work of committees on which they serve In one instance a California congressman disclosed that his wife sold Boeing shares on March That was just one day before a committee he was a member of issued a overview criticizing the company in connection with two fatal crashes of its Max jet It s rare for members of Congress to be prosecuted for industry trading but not unheard of In a congressman from New York Chris Collins resigned after pleading guilty to having shared confidential company information with his son and lying about it to federal agents He was sentenced to months in prison and later pardoned by President Trump CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONStock trading by members of Congress and the suspicion that activity engenders contributes to distrust in leadership Last year a Pew survey ascertained that just of Americans assumed the federal executive would do what is right just about inevitably and just disclosed preponderance of the time That distrust is unhealthy for the country s democracy whether you re a Republican or Democrat and makes it more arduous for either party to move its agenda forward Banning members of Congress from trading stocks would help restore trust in the federal executive A ban would also be an opportunity for members of both parties to come together in encouragement of a measure that will benefit the entire country That can t happen soon enough