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House lawmakers sign letter urging Pelosi, McCarthy to ban congressional stock trading

Financial Markets Wall Street
Posted at 12:40 PM, Jan 24, 2022
and last updated 2022-01-24 12:51:42-05

A group of House lawmakers has signed a letter urging Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to "swiftly" bring forward a bill to ban congressional stock trading.

Twenty-five Democrats and two Republicans, Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Matt Gaetz of Florida signed the letter drafted by Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of Maine.

"There is no reason that members of Congress need to be allowed to trade stocks when we should be focused on doing our jobs and serving our constituents," the letter read. "Perhaps this means some of our colleagues will miss out on lucrative investment opportunities. We don’t care. We came to Congress to serve our country, not turn a quick buck."

The letter comes after Pelosi changed her stance, saying on Thursday that she'd open to banning stock trades by members of Congress if it gets enough support.

In December, Pelosi, who does not trade stocks, said lawmakers should pick individual stocks.