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“Nobody in the Congress should be able to make money in the
stock market while they’re in the Congress,” Biden said.
The interview was conducted by Faiz Shakir, a political adviser
for Sen. Bernie Sanders, and published by A More Perfect Union,
a pro-labor advocacy and journalism organization. The Associated
Press reviewed a video of the interview before its release.
It’s unclear what impact Biden’s statement could have, coming
only a month before his term ends.
The Democratic president spoke to Shakir about his economic
legacy, which includes supporting unions, investing in clean
energy projects and signing infrastructure. But Shakir also
asked about congressional stock trading, which has been a
catalyst for populist anger at Washington.
For example, when the coronavirus pandemic was approaching, some
lawmakers bought and sold millions of dollars worth of stock
after being briefed on the virus.
A bipartisan proposal to ban trading by members of Congress and
their families has dozens of sponsors, but it has not received a
vote.
Although lawmakers are required to disclose stock transactions
exceeding $1,000, they’re routinely late in filing notices and
sometimes don’t file them at all.
Shakir said he admired Biden for having not “gone in early on
Google, and Boeing, and Microsoft, and Nvidia, and, you know,
Amazon” while he was a U.S. senator from Delaware, a position he
held for 36 years.
Biden said he lived on his senator salary instead of playing the
stock market.
“I don’t know how you look your constituents in the eye and
know, because the job they gave you, gave you an inside track to
make more money," he said. "I think we should be changing the
law.”
Biden had previously declined to take a position on
congressional stock trading. When Jen Psaki served as White
House press secretary two years ago, she said Biden would “let
members of leadership in Congress and members of Congress
determine what the rules should be."
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