Plenty of Room for Lawmakers to Profit Under Proposed Stock Ban [View all]

[justaprogressive]

Certain rich lawmakers are losing their minds over a proposed congressional stock-trading ban that a bipartisan group of senators advanced last month. They argue that forbidding them from using their inside knowledge to play the market will make public office “unattractive” and drive those who serve into poverty.

“Anybody want to be poor?” asked Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), one of the richest people in Congress, whose health care company defrauded Medicare and Medicaid in the ’90s when he was its chief executive. “I don’t.”

But Wall Street insiders said Scott and his fellow wealthy electeds have little cause to worry. The proposal leaves plenty of room to profit off insider information, so much so that they described it as inadequate and “stupid,” and called carve-outs that can be traded under the terms of the bill, including corporate bonds, “insane.” These exceptions, they said, make the legislation a ban in name only.

The HONEST Act, which stands for “Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions,” would ban all members of Congress, their spouses, and their children from directly investing in securities, commodities, futures, options, and trusts, starting 90 days after the law’s enactment. It would require that they divest any assets of those types by the start of their next term in office.

https://prospect.org/power/2025-08-12-lawmakers-profit-proposed-stock-ban-insider-trading/]