Congressman Krishnamoorthi Applauds Commitment by House Speaker Pelosi to Bring Congressional Stock Trading Ban to House Floor This Month

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi enthusiastically welcomed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's commitment to bring a congressional stock trading ban to the floor by the end the month. The Speaker's comments come only two weeks after a bipartisan coalition, led by Congressman Krishnamoorthi, sent a letter to House leadership and the Chairwoman and Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration calling for a vote on reform by September 30^th, while outlining a list of provisions that should be included in any legislation on the issue. For the last two Congresses, Congressman Krishnamoorthi has been the lead House sponsor of the Ban Conflicted Trading Act, the first legislation introduced to ban Members of Congress from trading individual stocks.

"I am glad to see Speaker Pelosi announce that a bill to ban congressional stock trading will come to the House floor for a vote this month," said Congressman Krishnamoorthi. "Since last Congress, I've helped lead the bipartisan charge in Congress to ban Senators and Representatives from trading individual stocks because of the unique and unavoidable conflicts of interest they face when doing so. Simply put, members of Congress have access to nonpublic information about companies, and members are uniquely capable of influencing the prospects of those companies through the work they do in Congress. It's vital that we eliminate individual stock trading in Congress to ensure that members of Congress are working for the American people, not their own stock portfolios. I'm happy to see that Speaker Pelosi will be scheduling a vote to make that possible. I look forward to working closely with the Committee on House Administration in the coming days to get these reforms into law as soon as possible."

Congressman Krishnamoorthi's statement comes in response to comments made by Speaker Pelosi during a press conference on Wednesday, in which she stated, "We believe we have a product we can bring to the floor this month."

Speaker Pelosi's sentiment was also echoed on Wednesday by Hakeem Jeffries, Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, who said, "I think we all look forward to seeing the legislation that Chair Lofgren puts forward sometime soon, as she herself has indicated."