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Chairman Steil's full opening statement as prepared for delivery:
Today, the Committee on House Administration continues our oversight of the Legislative Branch.
Let me be clear from the outset: trading stocks on insider information is a serious crime, and must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
As Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, I believe it’s critical that we ensure all lawmakers, regardless of party, regardless of seniority, are not profiting from insider information they learn while working on Capitol Hill.
In recent years, social media accounts have generated significant media attention for aggregating the stock trades of Members of Congress.
Understandably, this has fueled public concern that lawmakers may be using their positions of authority to personally benefit themselves.
While rules already govern how public officials trade stocks, stronger restrictions may be necessary to restore public trust and ensure officials are not profiting from their positions.
In today’s hearing, we’ll look at the issue of congressional stock trading at large, including current rules, and evaluate proposed reforms.
The current statute governing congressional stock trading, the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge, or STOCK Act, was passed over a decade ago in 2012 with bipartisan support.
Under the STOCK Act, Members of Congress, Executive Branch officials, and other federal employees are prohibited from using nonpublic information for their own financial benefit.
It also requires the disclosure of stock trades exceeding $1,000 within 45 days of the transaction.
Many Americans have been critical of the STOCK Act for not requiring sufficient transparency.
For example, the current financial disclosures and periodic transaction report requirements are not exact amounts. Because of this, you cannot determine a lawmaker’s actual realized profit or loss on a specific trade.
Some potential reforms include updating the STOCK Act’s reporting and enforcement requirements, requiring advanced disclosures, and outright banning the ownership of individual stocks.
I want to thank a number of our colleagues for proposing various reforms to address this issue.
Representatives Chip Roy, Seth Magaziner, Brian Fitzpatrick, Tim Burchett, Mark Alford, and Representative Anna Paulina Luna all come to mind. They have introduced or cosponsored pieces of legislation to strengthen the STOCK Act.
The bills propose different reforms, but the prevailing theme is significantly restricting or outright banning Members, spouses, and their dependent children from owning or trading stocks or other securities.
I believe we have an opportunity here to make meaningful reforms and restore the public’s trust.
The American people should be confident that lawmakers are working for them – not seeking office to financially benefit themselves.
I thank our witnesses for being here today - I think we have a great opportunity.
And again, I'm going to state my goal.
My goal is, I think pretty simple, to ensure no lawmaker is profiting from insider information while serving in the United States Congress.
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