Framework to ban members of Congress and SCOTUS from trading stocks includes crypto provision
Members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate as well as Supreme Court justices currently trading cryptocurrencies may have to stop HODLing while in office should a bill get enough votes.
According to a framework released on Thursday, chair Zoe Lofgren of the Committee on House Administration — responsible for the day-to-day operations of the House — said she had a “meaningful and effective plan to combat financial conflicts of interest” in the U.S. Congress by restricting the financial activities of lawmakers and SCOTUS justices, as well as those of their spouses and children. The bill, if passed according to the framework, would suggest a change in policy following the 2012 passage of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act, allowing members of Congress to buy, sell and trade stocks and other investments while in office, but also requiring them to disclose such transactions.
“Congress can act to restore the public's faith and trust in their public officials and ensure that these officials act in the public interest, not their private financial interest, by restricting senior government officials — including Members of Congress and the Supreme Court — and their spouses and dependent children from trading stock or holding investments in securities, commodities, futures, cryptocurrency, and other similar investments and from shorting stocks,” said Lofgren.
She added:
The framework suggested that lawmakers and SCOTUS justices could still hold and disclose a portfolio with diversified mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, Treasury bills, and other investments that did “not present the same potential for conflicts of interest." The bill’s framework also proposed disclosure amounts be more
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