Squad member AOC teams up with GOP’s Gaetz, Fitzpatrick on bill to BAN stock trading in

A rare mix of House members from across the ideological spectrum is reintroducing legislation to ban stock trading this Congress. 

Moderate Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the Problem Solvers’ Caucus, together with Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Calif., introduced the Restoring Faith in Government Act on Tuesday to prohibit financial investments by members of Congress, spouses and dependents. 

‘The fact that Members of the Progressive Caucus, the Freedom Caucus, and the Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, reflecting the entirety of the political spectrum, can find common ground on key issues like this should send a powerful message to America,’ Fitzpatrick said in a statement on the bill. 

‘When members have access to classified information, we should not be trading in the stock market on it. It’s really that simple,’ added Ocasio-Cortez. 

‘When members have access to classified information, we should not be trading in the stock market on it. It’s really that simple,’ said Ocasio-Cortez

‘Members of Congress are spending their time trading futures instead of securing the future of our fellow Americans. We cannot allow the Swamp to prioritize investing in stocks over investing in our country,’ Gaetz said of the new bill

Gaetz and Ocasio-Cortez have frequently sparred over the years, with the progressive firebrand calling the Florida Republican a ‘bad haircut in a cheap suit’ when Gaetz said Rep. Jamie Raskin might be unable to perform his job through the grief of losing his son to suicide. 

‘Members of Congress are spending their time trading futures instead of securing the future of our fellow Americans. We cannot allow the Swamp to prioritize investing in stocks over investing in our country,’ Gaetz said of the new bill.  

Public momentum for a stock trade ban came to a head last Congress after ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband made a number of questionable high-value trades. 

A stock trading ban has had bipartisan support – and quiet opposition – in both parties in both chambers. ‘The dirty secret here is that members of Congress hate this, they hate this bill,’ Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who introduced another ban told DailyMail.com earlier this year. 

Last July Paul unscrupulously purchased  $5 million in semiconductor chip stock days before a House vote that handed $52 billion to semiconductor producers. He sold the shares at a loss to avoid ‘misinformation’ – or the appearance of a conflict of interest. 

The Pelosis have a combined net worth of around $46 million.

Many Americans had hoped to see stock ban legislation last Congress after reports revealed hundreds of lawmakers regularly trade stocks directly related to their work in Congress.

In September Pelosi backed a bill to ban congressional stock trades that some government reform advocates said didn’t go far enough. She and other Democratic leaders failed to bring a ban up for a vote on the House floor. 

Nearly 100 House members bought or sold financial assets that intersected with the work of the committees they sit on, according to a New York Times report from September.

Of the 435 House members, 183 traded stocks through themselves or their immediate family members from 2019 to 2021. At least 97 bought or sold stocks, bonds or other financial assets through themselves or their spouses that directly intersected with their congressional work.

The trades that intersect with committee work are split evenly on partisan lines – 49 Republicans and 48 Democrats.

Since 2012, Congress members have been bound by the STOCK Act which requires they report stock transactions of $1,000 or more by themselves or their family members within 45 days. Members of Congress are also supposed to be confined by insider trading laws.