In a new interview released Tuesday, President Biden laid out his position on a hot-button issue in recent years, saying members of Congress should be banned from stock trading.
“I don't know how you can look into the eyes of voters and know that because the jobs they gave you gave you an inside track to make more money,'' Biden said. said in an interview With Faiz Shakir, political advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), who founded the media group “More Perfect Union.”
“I think we need to change the law. No one should be able to make money in the stock market while they're in Congress,” Biden said.
Mr. Shakir pointed out in the interview that Mr. Biden did not own the stock while he was a senator.
Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of senators announced plans to ban the president, vice president and members of Congress from purchasing stocks and a wide range of other financial assets.
The bill would prohibit lawmakers from purchasing stocks and other types of financial assets, while also preventing them from offloading stocks 90 days after enactment. Starting in 2027, it will apply to spouses and dependent children, and will also apply to the president and vice president.
Ethics watchdogs and others concerned about federal employees profiting from insider information are increasingly concerned about stock trading by elected and non-elected government officials. It is attracting attention.
The Wall Street Journal won a Pulitzer Prize in 2023 for its long-running series on regulators who traded stocks during the pandemic and bought and sold shares in companies that were under their direct regulators' jurisdiction.
