Speaking on Newsmax’s Stinchfield, GOP Representative Matt Gaetz discussed legislation introduced by a bipartisan group of 27 House members to block stock trading by lawmakers.
During the interview, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz said that his agreement with radical leftist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in signing on to the legislation should be enough to urge Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to bring the bill to a vote in the House.
“Whenever AOC and I have signed on to the same legislation, I just think all of America ought to take time out and really review it,” Gaetz told the show’s host, Grant Stinchfield.
“At a minimum, we ought to have a vote on it,” he added.
Trading stocks while serving in Congress is not currently illegal, though lawmakers do have to pay a small fine — usually just $200 — if they fail to report trading on potential conflicts of interest.
“Even if it’s not illegal, it’s swampy and it’s icky — and it makes people feel like their representatives aren’t really representing them, but representing their own financial interests,” Gaetz said.
“And we got too much of that in Washington on both sides, but we should at least have a vote,” he continued. “Let’s just have a vote and figure out where people stand. If it loses, it loses, but then the American people will get to make a judgment.”
Rep. Gaetz also noted that a ban on trading stocks may be another way to put term limits into effect for Congress, as keeping them from participating in the stock market for more than a few terms could be pretty costly for them in the long term.
“This legislation to prohibit stock trades from members of Congress really goes to what we think about our Congress,” he said. “If it’s a place you go for a few years, do your service and then return home — well, it’s not really that much of a sacrifice to suspend trading during that period of time.”
”But if you have people who are in Congress for 10, 20, 30, 40 years — well, they think, gosh, that’s their entire opportunity to participate in the marketplace,” Gaetz added.
Of course, it is unlikely to make it past Nancy Pelosi and onto the House floor for a vote, as she is one of the worst offenders when it comes to insider trading. She obviously doesn’t want to give up her source of income.