'Sick and tired of corruption': Sen. Jon Ossoff demands Congress members stop trading stocks

Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) urged the Senate to pass a rule barring senators from trading stocks or crypto starting in 2027. "The time for debate and excuses and delay and obstruction must end. There will always be some reason not to do this. But the American people see through those excuses and demand action," Ossoff said on the Senate floor. "The American people are sick and tired of this corruption. In fact, this may be one of the most unifying issues in our deeply divided country," he averred.

Ossoff cited a study that found members of Congress traded more than $600 million in stock, including in companies connected to committees on which they sit, accusing them of buying and selling shares in firms they regulate directly. "Members of Congress have access to privileged, confidential, and classified information. Members of Congress make decisions that send stock valuations up and down," he argued.

The effort was immediately blocked by Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), dubbed Capitol Hill's "Crypto Queen." Lummis was the "most heavily invested" U.S. lawmaker in bitcoin, with roughly $250,000 in the digital asset back in 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported. "But I reserve the right to object because there are alternatives. For example, when I arrived here, I was placed on the Banking Committee, and issues that might conflict with my financial assets, so I put my meager financial assets in a blind trust," she retorted.

The 39-year-old noted there had been some progress in recent years on such a ban. "But the bipartisan bill that we passed successfully through a major committee just appears stalled. It seems that the Senate majority is intent on blocking legislation," he said, referring to 2024, when Ossoff's Ban the Congressional Stock Trading Act passed the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee before advancing to the full Senate.

Ossoff and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) introduced the bill in 2022, requiring all members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children to place their stocks into a blind trust or divest their holdings, ensuring they cannot use inside information to profit from their trades. Ossoff, a former investigative journalist, fulfilled his pledge to put his own stock portfolio in a blind trust in 2021.

The issue is far from controversial among the American public, according to Ossoff, and a recent YouGov poll supports the argument. As much as 76 percent of Americans oppose congressional stock trading, with 18 percent unsure and only six percent in favor. The poll also found majority opposition among both Democrats (80 percent) and Republicans (77 percent), indicating categorical convergence on the issue.