By Josh Daniels
Jon Ossoff, Georgia’s first year senator, pulled off a miraculous win in January 2021 by defeating incumbent David Perdue in a narrow election. Ossoff ran a compelling campaign and focused on specific wrongdoings committed by Perdue. Perdue was involved with various insider trading schemes and worked with companies within his own congressional committee’s oversight, hitting 2,596 trades, most of which were stocks, in one term, something Ossoff mentioned routinely while campaigning.
The freshman senator’s new move is bringing back the anti corruption theme he brought to his senate run and may be the most eye opening move he has had since his election. Jon Ossoff, along with Mark Kelly, introduced legislation that would ban congressional stock trading by members of Congress and their families. The act would require senators to put their money into a blind trust, a move only ten senators have already made, two of which are Ossoff and Kelly.
The act has public support. About 76% of the American public agree that members of congress should not be allowed to buy and sell stocks while in office, including 80% of independents and 76% of republicans. Although there is clear bipartisan support among the public, Ossoff failed to find a republican co-sponsor for the bill, something he was seeking before he introduced Mark Kelly as his cosigner. Josh Hawley, a young, Republican senator recently sworn in, said he was open to co-signing the bill, before writing his own similar legislation and introducing it days later. Hawley’s bill will not put limits on the children of congressmen and congresswomen, as well as not include penalties for those who violate that legislation, while Ossoff’s will give fines for violation based on the paycheck of the member of Congress.
Proposals and legislation have already been made in the past to try to prevent corruption through trading in the legislative offices, but they have had easy loopholes and clearly have not done their jobs. One of these acts was the Stock Act of 2012, making it illegal for members of congress to participate in insider trading. The act made it mandatory for members of Congress to report publicly what they are buying, but it is obvious from Perdue’s term in office that this did not stop corruption and insider trading of those in office.
The bill also clearly steps on the toes of fellow members of the Democratic Party. Nancy Pelosi, who has repeatedly been criticized for her husband’s involvement in the stock market, came out last month saying she believes that America has a free market economy, and she believes members of Congress should be allowed to participate in it. Ossoff is truly showing his leadership in office and his strong anti corruption beliefs, and his bill has gained support from fellow members of office, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has already demonstrated her distaste for those in office such as Pelosi. The Democratic Party’s split between progressives and centrists is becoming more and more apparent, and it will be interesting to see if it affects the voting for Ossoff’s new legislation.
