House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday he is supportive of ongoing efforts on Capitol Hill to ban lawmakers from trading stocks, even as he expressed sympathy for opponents of the idea and didn’t say whether he will bring up the effort for a House vote.
“You want me to tell you my honest opinion on that?” he said to reporters Wednesday. “I’m in favor of it because I don’t think we should have any appearance of impropriety here.”
But Johnson quickly offered caveats in a nuanced answer, noting, “I understand people that have misgivings about that,” while not saying whether a vote would be in the offing.
“We’ll see where it lands,” he concluded.
The comments come as some lawmakers again push efforts to ban the controversial practice of congressional stock trading, with other lawmakers again under scrutiny for trading during recent market volatility.
Johnson had previously avoided taking a position on the issue, with his new comments coming as varied efforts to enact a ban gain bipartisan support.
One bill, called the TRUST in Congress Act, would require lawmakers and their spouses and children to place certain assets into blind trusts. The bill currently has 72 co-sponsors, with 60 Democrats and 12 Republicans supportive.
But supporters have been reintroducing this bill for years, only to see previous efforts fail to secure a vote.
Another newer effort this year getting attention is called the No Corruption in Government Act, which would prohibit insider trading and also address congressional lobbying.
Johnson didn’t express support for any bill in particular, but said on Wednesday, “On balance, my view is we probably should do that because I think it’s been abused in the past and I think sadly a few bad actors discolored it for everyone.”
Any new effort would build upon the 2012 STOCK Act, which made clear that insider trading by members of Congress is banned and required trades to be reported. The act has been criticized for not penalizing lawmakers who don’t comply with the reporting requirements.
Another prominent supporter of the effort is President Trump, who has repeatedly said he would sign a ban if it reaches his desk. He most recently weighed in during an interview with Time last month.
“I would be OK with it,” he said. “If they send that to me, I would do it.”
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
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