Representative Pat Fallon, a Republican from Texas, is pushing for a bill that would make it illegal for Congress members as well as their spouses to trade individual stocks.
The Daily Caller shared a copy of the plan. The text of the bill says that politicians as well as spouses would not be able to purchase or sell a “covered financial instrument,” known as a bond “as outlined in section 3(a) in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.”
According to the legislation, several financial instruments would not be considered “covered financial instruments,” including mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, bonds, U.S. Treasury bills, and notes, as well as “any investment fund placed in a State, Federal, or local government employee retirement plans.”
As compensation for their work, a spouse of a member of Congress may receive a “covered financial instrument” from their spouse’s primary occupation during the duration of their employment in that occupation, according to the measure’s language, which goes into effect one year after the spouse of the member of Congress starts working in that primary occupation.
The people who broke the rules would have to pay a fine of either “$25,000 for each violation” or the value associated with the financial object that was purchased or sold, whichever fine is higher.
“There’s no doubt that some members want to use their power to get rich and help their families. Still, more individuals make honest errors when they try to figure out the often-confusing reporting rules. The media has turned into a cottage business that often doesn’t talk about bad players but instead criticizes innocent mistakes for political reasons.” Fallon stated to the Daily Caller, “To put an end to every bit of this, we should just pass a law that makes it abundantly obvious that members of Congress are not allowed to trade individual stocks at all.”
“To get people to trust Congress again, the Insider Trading Prevention Act is a very important first step. This is straightforward, easy to comprehend, and will get rid of all good faith mistakes, but more importantly, egregious self-promotion and insider trading,” he told the source.
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