U.S. Rep. Davids backs legislation to avoid insider trading by members of Congress

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas endorsed bipartisan government transparency legislation Tuesday that would reduce opportunities for insider trading by members of Congress by requiring certain assets to be placed in a blind trust.

Davids, the 3rd District Democrat seeking re-election in 2022, said members of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate were in positions of public trust and should be held to high standards due to their extraordinary access to information not available to some outside government. She said the TRUST in Congress Act would provide necessary barriers to potentially corrupt application of insider information.

"Particularly during COVID, we've seen elected officials appear to misuse that privilege for personal gain on the stock market, which is absolutely unacceptable," she said. "I'm in Congress to make government work for Kansans, and part of that is rebuilding trust. To that end, I support introducing new guardrails that further reduce the likelihood of misconduct by our elected officials."

Davids, who took office in 2019, said she hadn't made any individual stock trades during her tenure in Congress.

Under the measure endorsed by Davids, all members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children would have to place certain investment assets in a blind trust within 90 days after enactment of the legislation. New members of Congress would have to comply within 90 days of assuming office. Former members could remove assets from the blind trusts 180 days following departure from Congress.

Members would be required to certify to the clerk of the U.S. House or the secretary of the U.S. Senate that they established the blind trust to hold security, commodity, future or comparable economic interest. The law wouldn't include bonds, treasury bills or mutual funds.

The TRUST in Congress measure introduced by Rep. Abigail Spanberger, Democrat of Virginia, and Rep. Chip Roy, Republican of Texas, has more than 50 U.S. House co-sponsors.

It has been support by government accountability organizations, including the Project on Government Oversight, National Taxpayers Union, Taxpayers for Common Sense, Public Citizen, Government Information Watch, Protect Democracy, Government Accountability Project, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Issue One, Open the Government, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Americans for Prosperity, Democracy 21, End Citizens United Action Fund, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

A flurry of House and Senate bills have emerged that would reform federal laws regarding members' financial transactions and the buying or selling of individual stocks. In the Senate, proposals have been developed to extend the trading prohibition to senior congressional staff.