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House Speaker Mike Johnson says he supports banning members of Congress from trading stocks — but has “sympathy” for arguments against it.
“I’m in favor of that, because I don’t think we should have any appearance of impropriety,” Johnson told reporters on Wednesday, before adding that there’s an “other side” to the argument.
The speaker, who’s own personal finances are relatively modest, noted that annual salaries for rank-and-file members of Congress have remained frozen at $174,000 since 2009, and that some lawmakers may find it hard to make the job work financially.
“So the counterargument is — and I have some sympathy — look, at least let them, like, engage in some stock trading, so that they can continue to, you know, take care of their family,” Johnson said.
The speaker went on to say that blatant insider trading would not be tolerated.
“Look, we have no tolerance for anything even resembling insider trading, or any of this kind of advantage that anybody can take, zero tolerance for it,” Johnson said. “And we’ll stamp it out ourselves.”
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