The push for lawmakers to divest from the market comes amid growing concerns that their trading could present potential conflicts of interest.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has backed a legislative movement that would require Capitol lawmakers to refrain from trading individual stocks. If such legislation is passed, it would affect some of richest members of Congress who have invested heavily in the stock market. For some of the wealthiest members of the House and Senate, this ban would force them, their spouse and their dependent children to pull tens of millions of dollars out of individual stocks that could only be reinvested if placed in a blind trust. The push for lawmakers, their families and their staff to divest from the market comes amid growing concerns that their trading could present potential conflicts of interest, given that they can be privy to information that would affect markets before the general public and thus could influence legislation.
