U.S. Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, and Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, last week introduced the bipartisan No Corruption in Government Act.
The proposed legislation would prevent members of …
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U.S. Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, and Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, last week introduced the bipartisan No Corruption in Government Act.
The proposed legislation would prevent members of Congress from using public service to enrich themselves, banning congressional stock trading and ending automatic annual pay raises for U.S. lawmakers.
The act, if passed, would also triple the lobbying ban for members of Congress.
According to a news release from the office of Gluesenkamp Perez, the bill would prevent congressional members and their spouses from holding or trading individual stocks, repeal the current law that automatically provides a raise for members of Congress each year and triple the length of a lobbying ban for former members of Congress.
The news release from Gluesenkamp Perez’s office cited a study that found that approximately 20 percent of members of Congress are buying and selling stocks when there might be a conflict of interest.
“During the 117th Congress, 78 members of Congress violated the current law, known as the STOCK Act, which requires public disclosure of trades within 45 days,” Gluesenkamp Perez’s office stated in the release. “Public polling suggests roughly 75 percent of Americans support banning members of Congress from trading individual stocks. Under current law, members of Congress receive an automatic pay raise each year, unless Congress passes legislation to prevent it. For 2025, the automatic pay increase for members of the House of Representatives would be a maximum 3.8% adjustment, or $6,600.”
In the release, Gluesenkamp Perez said she has consistently spoken up against pay raises for members of Congress, successfully opposing the inclusion of a congressional pay raise in the December stopgap measure, as well as in March appropriations legislation.
In June, she called on her bipartisan colleagues to block a pay raise in appropriations legislation.
Members of the House of Representatives are banned from lobbying for one year after leaving office and senators are banned from lobbying for two years.
“Despite this restriction, lobbying remains the single most popular post-Congress career choice with approximately two-thirds of former members joining the lobbying industry,” Gluesenkamp Perez’s office stated in the release.
“Serving in Congress should be an opportunity to deliver for your community, not to enrich yourself,” Gluesenkamp Perez stated. “By preventing members of Congress from trading stocks, receiving yearly pay raises and turning to lobbying shortly after their term, more lawmakers will be accountable to their constituents and be in the work of governing for the right reasons.”
Nunn said the federal government must “return transparency, accountability and integrity to our nation’s capital.”
“We need common sense in Washington so that our federal government always acts in the best interest of the American people — not for personal gain,” Nunn stated in the release.
Full text of the legislation can be found here.