- Elizabeth Warren spoke to Pod Save America about banning members of Congress from owning stocks.
- Warren is one of several lawmakers pushing for a ban Congress owning or trading stocks.
- Proponents say a ban would prevent conflicts of interest and concerns about insider trading.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren continued her push to ban members of Congress from trading or owning stocks during an interview released Tuesday, saying that the proposal would "clean up the filth on the floor."
In an appearance Tuesday on the liberal podcast Pod Save America, the Massachusetts Democrat said the reform was necessary "to start sweeping out the stables around Congress."
Warren is among the most vocal members of a bipartisan group of lawmakers who want to ban all members of Congress from trading stocks. Proponents of the reform argue that it is a conflict of interest for people who have the power to regulate companies and influence the market to benefit from trading stocks.
The push to ban lawmakers from owning or trading stocks began late last year after Insider published "Conflicted Congress," an extensive investigation into the financial holdings of lawmakers and their top staffers.
Warren introduced a bill in February alongside Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana in February that would ban members of Congress and their spouses from owning and trading stocks, bonds, commodities, futures, and other securities. It's one of several stock-ban proposals now pending in Congress.
"If you want to be in the stock market, you can be in mutual funds, in index funds, but that's it," Warren said of her bill. "This is public service."
Warren went further, telling the hosts that federal judges, the governors of the Federal Reserve, and "everybody who heads up a cabinet agency or of any of our independent agencies" should also face restrictions.
Insider's "Conflicted Congress" investigation uncovered that nearly 60 members of Congress and more than 180 senior congressional staffers have failed to promptly disclose their stock trades in compliance with federal law. The project also documented several instances in which members of Congress were serving on committees overseeing certain industries even as they were personally invested in those industries.
Insider's review of Congress' financial disclosure forms found that Warren does not buy or sell individual stocks in companies. She and her staff did not have any violations of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act, which prohibits members from using nonpublic information that they are privy to as lawmakers for personal benefit, and imposed financial reporting requirements for elected officials and their staff.
The law is primarily designed to prevent insider trading and financial conflicts of interest and provide timely insight into lawmakers' personal financial trades.
Heated stock debate in Congress
Dozens of lawmakers share Warren's zeal for an ethical spring cleaning, though just how thorough a scrubbing they'll collectively tolerate remains to be seen.
The stock-ban related bills leading the discussion today include the bicameral Ban Conflicted Trading Act, the bipartisan TRUST in Congress Act, and the buzzy Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act.
These, and other bills, take myriad approaches to curbing congressional stock trades by outlining who can participate (spouses; dependent children), how far to extend new guardrails (including to the Supreme Court or state legislatures), acceptable alternatives (blind trusts; exchange-traded funds), and bolstering enforcement tools (forfeiting all profits; losing one's salary).
The Committee on House Administration conducted a hearing April 7 on the various proposals, but the hours-long affair produced more questions than answers, with some lawmakers raising concerns about how far any law might go.
The scope of any potential compromise remains unclear as supporters keeping pushing for some sort of change before time — and, more likely, political will — runs out this midterm election year.
The STOCK Act was inked into law 10 years ago, marking a decade where attitudes about the importance of financial transparency on Capitol Hill have fluctuated more than the investing habits of elected officials.
"The bottom line is we ought to do this," Warren told Pod Save America.