Amidst the regulatory cloud that besieged the US, American lawmakers have proposed a new bipartisan bill on financial instruments. The bill bans policymakers from investing or owning financial assets with the possibility of cryptos being included.
According to the report, the two political parties which usually disagree on numerous topics have joined hands to oppose lawmakers from trading stocks. Matt Gaetz and Alexandria Cortez who represents the two parties proposed their united take on the topic.
In addition, the bill proposed that the law should stop Congress members, their partners, and relatives from trading or holding financial assets. The status of cryptocurrencies in the bill is yet clarified.
Democratic And Republican Lawmakers Support New Bill
Republican representatives Matt Gaetz and Brian Fitzpatrick together with Raja Krishnamoorthi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of the Democratic party recently proposed a Bipartisan Bill aimed at Restoring Faith in government.
According to the report, they drafted the bill on April 28 intending to amend the US legislature concerning congressional members. The bill proposed that legislators and their relatives should not trade or hold securities, commodities, or securities futures.
In addition, the bill pointed out that congressmen who already have such assets in possession would have to sell them. Better still, they can put the assets in a blind trust account for 90 days of quotation.
Any lawmaker who fails to abide by the bill would face civil charges from the United States Attorney General. The filing may lead to a potential fine of about $50,000, according to the report.
While commenting on the latest development, Alexandria stated that congressional members tend to have access to classified information on the market. Hence, trading stocks based on this information should be highly prohibited. He added that if congressional members are allowed to trade stocks, people would have less trust in the government. He added that as Bipartisan Problem Solvers, they have to build bridges between the government and the people to progress the country.
Certain Cryptos May Be Included In The Bill
During the discussion, the four bipartisan congressmen pointed to stock trading as the core of the bill. However, the bill suggested that holding some specific crypto may be prohibited by the bill.
This is because the status of some crypto as being securities or commodities is yet to be clarified. Currently, only Bitcoin has been passed as a commodity by both SEC and CFTC agencies. The status of Ethereum and other alternative coins is uncertain.
Previously, Alexandria stated in 2021 that she is careful not to hold any financial assets that may pose a conflict of interest in her takes on stocks and crypto in the future.
Furthermore, the STOCK (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) Act mandates US policymakers to declare their investment portfolio. In addition, it allows them to monitor or propose laws on potential topics related to firms in which their stocks are.
Commenting on the new bill, some experts suggested that policymakers who failed to declare their investment portfolio should be regarded as an incapable deterrent of disagreement.
For instance, Rep. Lois Frankel reportedly sold her assets in Bankrupt First Republic Bank and bought some stocks in JPMorgan even before the bank collapsed. The act suggested a plain abuse of insider knowledge which has consequences.
Legislatures have previously motioned for the expansion of the STOCK Act to prevent some investments but to no avail. Also, the public had on several occasions outcried that the act of allowing congressional members to trade stocks or receive financial donations for firms is dubious. For instance, some Republican and Democratic policymakers reportedly received donations from the CEO and some executives of the collapsed FTX exchange.
It is still uncertain if the bipartisan bill would stand after the voting process is completed. Firstly, it would pass via the House and the Senate before the US President, Joe Biden, would sign or reject it as a US law.