John -- There’s a dirty little secret in Washington.

 

Members of Congress are allowed to buy and trade stocks on Wall Street just like anyone else with the money to invest. But they get something regular investors don’t – insider information.

 

Congress’ answer to this obvious conflict of interest is to require their members to disclose their trades for transparency. A nice idea in theory, but it doesn’t stop things like this from happening:

 

 

Rand Paul’s wife purchased stocks in Gilead, maker of the antiviral drug Remdesivir on February 26, 2020 – AFTER the Senate had their secret briefing on COVID-19 and BEFORE the public knew what was coming.

 

Then Rand Paul cast the only vote in the Senate against the emergency spending to combat the emerging pandemic.

 

John, if you or I, or anyone else, made a trade based on privileged, confidential information that was not available to other investors, we would be prosecuted for insider trading.

 

Brand New Congress is calling for an absolute ban on Congressional stock trading. If you agree, pitch in $25 now to help us elect unbought, unbossed progressives who will stand up to this blatant corruption.

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Our lawmakers get secret briefings all the time about new technologies, developing regional conflicts, and emerging threats that have major impacts on the global economy.

 

Then they use that information to buy and sell stocks that make them rich.

 

That’s exactly what happened in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic – and representatives from both parties did it.

While Americans have been struggling to pay rent and keep food on the table, members of Congress have been profiting off the pandemic.

 

Every lawmaker who trades on insider knowledge privileged to members of Congress should be thoroughly investigated by the Ethics Committee. But ethics investigations clearly are not enough to deter this behavior.

 

We need an absolute ban on Congressional stock trading.

 

Members of Congress should not be allowed to enrich themselves with privileged information that the rest of us don’t get – not by stock trading, and not by special favors from corporate PACs and lobbyists.

 

That’s why BNC and all of our candidates refuse to take money from corporate PACs.

 

Right now we are just $2,180 short of our January fundraising goal. Help us close the gap and elect more unbought, unbossed, working-class progressives to Congress with a contribution in any amount today.

 

Adrienne Bell
Executive Director
Brand New Congress