OAN’s Shawntel Smith-Hill
4:42 PM – Wednesday, July 19, 2023
In a joint effort, Democrat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Republican Senator Josh Hawley are pushing to introduce new bipartisan legislation in the Senate. If passed, it would ban those affected from owning stock in individual companies.
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The proposed measure also includes a set of penalties and fines that individuals caught breaching the law would have to pay. Executive branch personnel would risk fines of $10,000 or more, as well as forfeiture of any gains made from stock trading.
Members of Congress would face penalties amounting to at least 10% of the value of the prohibited investments if they refused to comply with the bill.
The bill’s authors also said that they hope to create a public database that holds stock transactions by members of Congress and executive branch employees.
“Politicians and civil servants shouldn’t spend their time day-trading and trying to make a profit at the expense of the American public, but that’s exactly what so many are doing,” Hawley said in a statement. “My bill with Senator Gillibrand is common sense: ban elected and executive branch officials from trading or holding stocks and put the American public first.”
Hawley introduced a similar bill back in January. Saying, “Members of Congress and their spouses shouldn’t be using their position to get rich on the stock market.”
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