Taking a stance on a topic that has been the focus of debate and proposed legislation in recent years, President Joe Biden stated in an interview that was partially published on Tuesday that he supports a ban on members of Congress trading stocks.
“I don’t know how lawmakers could trade stocks in good conscience while representing their states or districts,” Biden said in an interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders’s strategist, Faiz Shakir, on the progressive nonprofit news site More Perfect Union.
Biden remarked, “I don’t know how you look your constituents in the eye and know that the job they gave you paved the way for you to earn more money.”
Throughout his decades as a senator, Biden did not hold stock, Shakir pointed out in the interview.
Given his lame duck position with just over a month left in office, it is unclear what effect Biden’s words on Tuesday—the first time he has taken a side on the matter—could have.
Ethics watchdogs and some lawmakers claim that members of Congress who trade stocks are taking advantage of insider information, making it a political hot spot on Capitol Hill and beyond.
Despite numerous attempts in recent years, legislation prohibiting congressional stock trading has never been passed.
The ETHICS Act, a proposal submitted this year by a bipartisan group of senators, would prohibit parliamentarians from purchasing stocks and other covered investments and from selling stocks for 90 days following the bill’s implementation. Additionally, the law would prohibit their dependent children and spouses from engaging in such activities.
The proposal, which one of its sponsors, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., described as a “commonsense piece of legislation that helps maintain trust in this institution,” would also require the president and vice president to divest from covered investments and impose financial penalties for violators.
The legislation has not yet been put to a vote by the entire Senate.
In 2012, former President Barack Obama signed legislation to increase reporting requirements and prohibit insider trading by aides and members of Congress.
Biden demanded more action in the Shakir interview.
“At the federal level, I believe we should be amending the law that states that no member of Congress should be able to profit from the stock market while serving in Congress,” he stated.
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