The U.S. Congress once again outperformed the stock market in 2023–a feat even financial professionals find difficult to achieve. Yet, our elected officials seem able to outsmart professionals time and again. In 2022, nearly one-fifth of all members of Congress reported stock trades with possible conflicts of interest. Sadly, 2021 was no different, and it goes on and on.

Members of Congress should not be allowed to use their position of power and make decisions that will directly impact their constituents for personal financial gain. That is abuse of power. It begs the question: are our elected officials making the decisions that will benefit the American people or will, in fact, boost their personal bank accounts? We should NOT have to ask this question.

This is not a partisan issue, leaders from both sides are trading stocks related to the industries they oversee. And leadership on both sides of the aisle has failed to even bring legislation to ban the trading up for a vote. This doesn’t stop with just Congressmembers–their spouses can also be involved and/or benefit.

There are bills in Congress that would directly address members’ ability to trade individual stock while in office, yet they have not been brought to a vote or passed. That must change now. Politicians should not have the opportunity to profit from insider knowledge of the stock market only they have access to.

We elect our officials to use their position of power to work for the American people, not their personal wealth. Join the fight today to ban members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks.