Just one month before the end of his term, US President Joe Biden asked that congressmen not be allowed to carry out stock market operations.
President Joe Biden spoke out in favor of prohibiting congressmen from buying and selling stock stocks while they hold legislative office, making a belated statement on an issue that has been debated on Capitol Hill for years.
“No one in Congress should be able to make money in the stock market while they're in Congress,” Biden said in an interview to be published this week.
The interview was conducted by Faiz Shakir, political advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders, and published by A More Perfect Union, an activist organization in favor of labor rights and freedom of the press. The Associated Press saw the interview before its release.
It's unclear what impact Biden's statement could have, coming just a month before his term ends.
The Democratic president spoke with Shakir about his economic legacy, which includes supporting unions and investing in clean energy and infrastructure projects. But Shakir also asked about congressional stock trading, which has been a catalyst for populist anger in Washington.
For example, as the coronavirus pandemic approached, some lawmakers bought and sold millions of dollars in stocks after being informed about the virus.
A bipartisan proposal to ban stock trading by members of Congress and their families has dozens of sponsors but has not received a vote.
Although lawmakers are required to disclose any transaction over $1,000, they routinely do so late or not at all.
Shakir said he admired Biden for not “getting early into Google, and Boeing, and Microsoft, and Nvidia, and, you know, Amazon” while he was a senator from Delaware, a position he held for 36 years.
Biden said he lived off his senator's salary instead of playing in the stock market.
“I don't know how you can look your constituents in the eyes and know, because the job they gave you, gave you an inside track to make more money,” he said. “I think we should change the law.”
Biden had previously declined to take a position on congressional stock trading. When Jen Psaki was serving as White House press secretary two years ago, she said Biden “will let members of congressional leadership and members of Congress determine what the rules should be.”