Many Democratic lawmakers from Michigan are backing the recent push to ban the trading of individual stocks by members of Congress, despite some reluctance by their party's leadership to make the leap.
Supporters of the idea from both parties argue the prohibition is needed to remove conflicts of interest — or the perception of one — that could arise from lawmakers using information they receive in committee hearings or closed-door briefings to profit from their stock portfolios.
The new momentum behind legislative proposals on Capitol Hill follows profitable trades by lawmakers from both parties after they were briefed in 2020 about the dawning coronavirus pandemic. Dozens of lawmakers and staffers have also been caught violating the rules governing stock trading disclosures in recent months.
"There's been recent scandals about this, and it just keeps recurring," said U.S. Rep. Andy Levin, D-Bloomfield Township. "Our legislation has effects on individual companies. It just makes sense for us not to trade stocks in individual companies, while we're in this role of governing the country and passing laws where there could be a perceived or a real conflict of interest."
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