Members of Congress Shouldn’t Trade Stocks

All too often, Congress seems to confirm voters’ suspicions that the rules don’t apply to their elected leaders. That goes double when it comes to financial matters. With trust in government at a low ebb, nothing is more important than to hold the country’s politicians to the highest standards of financial propriety. Up to now, the efforts of Congress to police itself to the necessary standard have failed.

In 2012, following a series of stock-related scandals, Congress passed a law designed to prevent lawmakers from using their privileged positions to gain an extra edge on the stock market. In theory, the STOCK Act would block them from trading based on nonpublic information acquired from their official duties and require them to report their trades within 45 days.