Tell me the significance of you joining with AOC to get something like this done.
>> AOC is wrong a lot, she'd probably say the same thing about me, but
she's not corrupt and I will work with anyone and
everyone to ensure that Congress is not so compromised.
We should disallow congressional stock trading for
the same reason we don't allow the referee to bet on the game.
>> That's right, Representatives Matt Gaetz and
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez have teamed up to at least try to put an end to
stock trading by members of Congress that oftentimes looks like insider trading.
While the two have disagreed on nearly every issue, they were able to find common
ground on topics related to congressional corruption.
Unfortunately, that has put them at odds with pretty much everyone else [LAUGH]
because everyone else in Congress, is trading individual stocks and
possibly engaging in insider trading.
And it's such a widespread phenomenon.
Well, you know what, we'll get to how widespread that is a little later,
stay tuned for that, but first, let's get to what AOC and Gaetz are proposing.
The Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act,
would forbid any member of Congress from owning stocks or making trades.
It would also prevent the spouses and dependents of politicians from doing
the same, in what Matt Gaetz jokingly referred to as the Pelosi provision.
Now, look, my guess is this is because Pelosi consistently beats the stock
market, her trades are so successful that retail investors literally track
her financial disclosures and copy her investments.
Pelosi even gave this shameless defense of her corruption
just back in 2021, let's watch.
>> Should members of Congress and their spouses be banned from trading individual
stocks while they're in Congress?
>> No, I don't know to the second one,
we have a responsibility to report on the stock, but
I'm not familiar with that five month review.
But if people aren't reporting, they should be because
this is a free market and we have a free market economy,
they should be able to participate in that.
>> Yeah, but your so called participation in the free market
is a conflict of interest, how are you going to regulate on
businesses that you are personally invested in?
Then their profit motive becomes your profit motive, you get what I'm saying?
It's a problem, it's a bit of a problem and then there are some closed
door briefings that members of Congress are part of of course.
And they're privy to information we're not privy to, and
they get to trade on that information.
If we were to trade on insider information, we'd go to prison,
why don't they go to prison?
Look, if the latest legislative effort to ban congressional stock trading by AOC and
Gaetz were to pass, members of Congress who currently own stock,
would be forced to transfer it to a blind trust within 90 days.
Apparently there are some consequences for
those who would fail to comply, any violations of the law would result
in a fine at the court's discretion of course, up to $50,000.
Exceptions to the proposal should it be voted into law,
include treasury bonds, widely held investment funds and
contributions to the government's retirement plan.
According to Gaetz and AOC, those are all acceptable forms of investment and
I agree with that.
Now, this isn't the first time that AOC and Matt Gaetz have teamed up for
legislation like this.
Just last year, they both supported the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act,
which would have banned trading and
forbidden members of Congress from serving on corporate boards.
Now, unfortunately, the provision that bans congressional lawmakers from serving
on such boards, is not included in this year's legislation.
It's also unfortunately hard to believe that this latest effort will pass,
I'm just keeping it real with you all.
There have been plenty of other attempts to stop members of Congress from trading,
but they've always failed because many politicians are making a killing in
the stock market.
Check out this headline from a New York Times article written just last year which
reads, stock trades reported by nearly a fifth of Congress show possible conflicts,
meaning conflicts of interest.
A New York Times analysis found that 97 lawmakers or their family members bought
or sold financial assets over a three-year span in industries that could
be affected by their legislative committee work, wow, what a shocker.
Looks pretty bad, right, now this issue is not only extremely widespread,
but very much bipartisan.
This is a bipartisan issue and here is a visual that will help you understand it,
these 97 politicians and their family members were prolific traders.
From 2019 to 2021,
more than 3700 trades reported by lawmakers from both parties posed
potential conflicts between their public responsibilities and their finances.
Because of their insider information, members of Congress can get filthy
rich with their trades and consistently beat the market.
>> Breaking 2004 study by a group of professors and researchers,
examined the records of US Senators between 1993 and 1998.
The study found that a portfolio tracking the stocks that the US Senators bought
during the same time period, outperformed the market by 85 basis points each month.
And a portfolio that tracked the stocks that the Senators sold during the period,
lagged behind the market by 12 basis points.
The study concluded that the Senators knew appropriate times to both buy and
sell their common stocks.
>> So, why is insider trading so rampant?
Because there are no real consequences if members of Congress get caught.
Now, there's the Stock Act of 2012, which is currently the only
regulation against insider trading and it's woefully inadequate.
While lawmakers who violate the Stock Act face a fine, the penalty is usually small,
$200 is the standard amount or waived by House or Senate ethics officials.
They have their colleagues waive it on their behalf, the $200 stamp stamp.
Do you know how many millionaires we have in Congress right now?
While it's encouraging to see bipartisan efforts to end corruption,
it's hard to get excited about it when so many prior attempts to end insider
trading or just trading individual stocks have failed.
Furthermore, Gaetz and AOC's bill should have even steeper penalties
than just $50,000, I'm just keeping it real.
Even a penalty that high, could be chump change for a politician like Nancy Pelosi,
who has two very fancy refrigerators, lots of expensive ice cream.
And millions and millions of dollars that she has made through trading
individual stocks [LAUGH] while she was a member of Congress.
So, something to keep in mind.
With that said though, I do wanna commend Gaetz and AOC for working together,
even though they couldn't be more different politically speaking.
If you can find common ground with your political opponents,
you should work together to accomplish the policies that you want to accomplish.
I don't think it makes you a bad person to do that,
it just makes you a thinker, someone who's strategic,
someone who actually cares about winning through policy.
Rather than posturing to your voters to make it seem like you're
the purest leftist or member of the right wing in Congress.
So I love that they're trying, every time they do,
they draw attention to this issue.
And even if the legislation doesn't pass, drawing attention to it and
increasing pressure on members of Congress to change their behavior is something,
it's better than nothing.
I certainly would not be happy if this issue was on no one's radar, and
the fact that they're proposing legislation about this,
is something that I think they deserve kudos for.