Ossoff-backed bill banning stock trading for presidents, vice presidents, Congress members advances

A bipartisan proposal that would ban elected members of Congress and the executive branch from trading stocks while in office advanced out of a U.S. Senate committee this week but faces concerns from some GOP senators over its reach.

The bill passed out of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs with an 8-to-4 vote Wednesday. Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat who sits on the committee and who earlier proposed a ban on stock trading, was part of the negotiations that led to the compromise bill.

Ossoff touted the bill’s advancement as an important step forward during a virtual press conference Thursday, calling it “essential ethics reform.”

“This is ethics reform that is long overdue,” Ossoff said Thursday. “The public is weary of hearing these controversies about members of Congress who are trading stocks in companies that they regulate, who are trading stocks around major global events into which we as elected officials may have advance notice and insight.”