Senator Mark Kelly on Introducing Bill to Ban Congressional Stock Trading
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What is the issue with congressional stock trading?
You know, the market volatility we're seeing right now is not normal. In my view, the economy of the United States of America should not look like a Trump meme stock. And we know with Trump meme stocks that there are a group of insiders who are usually the ones benefiting. I mean, I think it's 22 of the crypto wallets made money on the Trump meme stuff while I like 50,000 people ended up losing money. So when I see this in our markets, it really pisses me off. And then layer on top of that, all the unusual trading patterns around when Trump announces tariffs, when he takes off the tariffs, you see all of this know activity that at least resembles insider trading and then it pisses me off to no end when you see that members of congress are involved in trading these stocks and making huge amounts of money off it and doing weird trades that would never otherwise exist unless you had some knowledge about what the heck was taking place and we showed the photo there of marjorie taylor green a rapacious stock trader all of a sudden but look let's be clear it's a bipartisan issue in my view
I think that public servants should be public servants. And so even though MAGA Mike Johnson has, you know, he's claimed to some extent that he's against stock trading by members of Congress, I guess, but who knows what the hell he says is true or not.
How does insider trading affect the economy?
But then he gave this weird press conference also where he said, well, I don't like this stock trading, but I have sympathy. I get it. Members of Congress, they're not making enough money. They need this. They need stock trading. I get it. Here's what he said. Let's play it.
Well, look, you know, the salary of Congress has been frozen since 2009. You know, when you adjust for inflation, a member of Congress today is making 31% less than they made in that year. It goes down every year. And over time, if you stay on this trajectory, you're going to have less qualified people who are willing to make the extreme sacrifice to run for Congress.
What are the challenges with Congress salaries?
I mean, people just make a reasonable decision as a family on whether or not they can come and move to Washington, have a residence here, a residence at home, and do all the things that are required. So the counterargument is, and I have some sympathy, look, at least let them engage in some stock trading so that they can continue to take care of their family.
Let's bring in Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona, who today, along with Senator Ossoff, introduced the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act as well. Tell us about everything.
Well, Ben, let me let me start off by saying I have zero sympathy. Zero. I mean, Mike Johnson, a speaker of the House, he can work to raise the salary of members of Congress. These things are totally unconnected. When you're in this job, you get enormous access to information. I sit on the Armed Services and the Intelligence Committee. There are people on the Ag Committee that know what's going on with crops and cattle and could use that information to trade futures. I do believe there is somebody that sits on the Senate Ag Committee. I'm not going to name names here, but does actually trade future contracts. for agricultural products. So with this access to information, I imagine there is a temptation by members of Congress to use this information to gain, to just build their wealth. And that is not right. That's not information that the general public has. I get the issue that Mike Johnson has with the salaries of members of Congress. He is the speaker of the fricking House of Representatives. And he could do something about that.
And I think there should be something done. Folks that have been here for a long time because of inflation, you know, their buying power has been reduced. I'm sympathetic to that argument. So Ossoff and I, Senator Ossoff and I reintroduced our legislation to basically compel the rest of Congress to do what the two of us do.
Why is Senator Mark Kelly against stock trading for Congress?
And that's putting your assets into a blind trust where you don't have the ability to use any of the information you have to make money because of your job. We're supposed to be public servants here. And Senator Ossoff and I take this very seriously. You can also diversify. And, you know, so there's another option there, too.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the issue with congressional stock trading?
0:00–1:23
2
How does insider trading affect the economy?
1:23–1:57
3
What are the challenges with Congress salaries?
1:57–4:08
4
Why is Senator Mark Kelly against stock trading for Congress?
4:08–4:46
5
What is the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act?
4:46–8:59
6
How does budget policy affect the middle class?
8:59–9:32
7
What are the implications of tax cuts for the wealthy?
9:32–11:42
8
How can we address inequality in taxation?
11:42–12:15