Americans’ trust in our institutions has been waning for years, for good reason, but a new piece of legislation being put forward by the U.S. House of Representatives seeks to give Americans some modicum of reassurance that their federal elected officials can’t as easily use the trust placed in them by voters to enrich their own lives. And it comes, rather surprisingly, from a bipartisan group of lawmakers that includes Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
Those two divergent voices are joined by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) in introducing the “Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act,” a bill that would prohibit financial investments – such as individual stock trades – by members of Congress, their spouses, and their dependents (hereby referred to as the “Hunter clause”).
The group introducing the bill on Tuesday constitute prominent members of the House’s Progressive Caucus, Freedom Caucus, and Problem Solvers Caucus – a rare coalition amid the ongoing debt ceiling fight or at any point in a Congress in recent memory. Read more…