Biden says he supports banning congressmen from trading in the stock market while in office
The president says that no lawmaker can profit from insider information that gives him or her an advantage in stock trading.
Joe Biden during his State of the Union Address to members of Congress.
Biden has broken his silence and been blunt about it. He believes elected officials in the Senate and House should not be able to engage in stock market trading while in Congress.
The president has given his opinion on this controversial issue after four years without pronouncing himself on the matter. In the words of the acting president, congressmen should not be able to profit in this way while they are in office and legislation should be changed to make it so.
However, it is unlikely to see any change in the law or congressional regulations for the remainder of the Democratic term. Biden chose an interview on the podcast of Faiz Shakir, a political adviser to leftist Sen. Bernie Sanders, to unveil his position on this issue.
Biden's position is not shared by the rest of the Democratic Party. A leading figure within the party, Nancy Pelosi, was against this measure, whereby both the congresswoman and her immediate family members could trade in purchases or sales of financial assets in any of the country's stock markets.
Obama Transparency Act
In principle, the law prohibits the use of nonpublic information for personal gain, including insider trading, by members of Congress and other public employees. However, there would be ways to circumvent this rule to profit.
Members of Congress can engage in stock trades as long as they disclose trades worth more than $1,000 within 45 days. The disclosures must be made public.
Pelosi's husband, Paul, works a sizable portfolio of assets and this summer sold Visa stock worth between half a million and $1 million weeks before the Department of Justice launched an investigation against the company for antitrust practices, sending its stock value plummeting.
"I don't know how you look your constituents in the eye and know, because the job they gave you, it gave you an inside track to make more money," Biden said on the podcast, referring to congressmen who participate in stock market transactions.
Congress hasn't fully weighed in on the issue either, although there is a bipartisan initiative supported by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former Rep. Matt Gaetz for a ban.
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