THE SENATE IS LONG OVERDUE for a recess. The hundred people with the biggest egos in the Capitol have started to reach for each other’s throats. Lawmakers got especially grabby during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing Wednesday to mark up a bill meant to ban the ethically dubious practice of trading on stocks and commodities while in office.
The bill they were considering is called the HONEST Act, which would ban trading for lawmakers. In a last-minute update, the ban was extended to the president and vice president as well, which prompted a furious lobbying effort by the White House to tank the legislation. Republicans in the hearing fought over the bill and the question of whether it conflicts with what they see as their primary duty: running cover for President Donald Trump.
The bill was initially titled the “Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act,” a jab at the Democratic former House speaker whose portfolio has become something of a gold mine for hobbyist traders. But the contents of the bill were in line with a longstanding Democratic policy objective: a ban on lawmakers using their position to engage in corruption (or, at the very least, unethical behavior) through stock trading.
Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) got into a spat during the hearing over the bill’s language. As Hawley put it, the bill is necessary to help clamp down on trading by those in the Capitol.