According to PunchBowl News, the effort is gaining momentum as Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Raphael Warnock team up with Sens. Lindsey Graham and Josh Hawley to attempt to advance a stock trading ban that could resemble a similar proposal Warren worked on with Sen. Steve Daines the last session of Congress.
Public outrage over the practice first captured the nation’s attention when former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr sold up to $1.7 million in stocks just before COVID-19 hit the U.S. In his capacity on the key panel, Burr received regular briefings on threats to the U.S. There have been other efforts this session to crack down on stock trading by members of Congress. In January, Hawley introduced his own legislation called the PELOSI Act, or the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments Act, focusing on the former speaker and her family to ban stock trading by members of Congress.
In the lower chamber, there are several bills being considered to ban members of Congress from trading stocks while in office. Reps. Abigail Spanberger and Chip Roy reintroduced a bill earlier this year that would require members, their spouses, and their dependent children to put certain investment assets into a blind trust while they serve.