Why I’ve Never Traded A Stock In Congress As Promised

It’s rare for almost the whole country to agree on anything. But Americans agree on this. D.C. politicians should not be using insider information to trade stocks and get rich.
A recent poll found that 76% of Americans said members of Congress shouldn’t buy and sell individual stocks. And I couldn’t agree more.
When the folks of Indiana’s Second District sent me to Washington, I made a commitment. I would never trade stocks as a member of Congress. And I’ve kept it. Because serving you comes before playing the market. You would be shocked by the number of Democrats (and even some Republicans) who think they work on Wall Street, not in Washington.
See, members of Congress sit through classified briefings. They attend committee markups. They know which bills are moving, which industries are about to be regulated, and which contracts are about to be awarded, long before Hoosiers do. You don’t need a finance degree to see the problem.
In fact, a peer-reviewed study of trades from 1993 to 1998 found that stocks senators bought beat the market by 85 basis points a month, or roughly 12% a year. Ordinary investors don’t get that kind of edge. And Hoosiers saving for retirement in a 401(k) certainly don’t.
So while I’ve kept my promise, that’s not enough. It should be the law. And I fought to make it one.
In July, I voted for the Stop Insider Trading Act, H.R. 7008, which passed the House. It bars members, their spouses, and their dependent children from buying individual stocks. It also requires public notice seven to 14 days before a sale. As my friend Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), who authored the bill, said, it “ensures no lawmaker can profit off of insider information.”
Yet 198 Democrats voted against it. Then, on Sept. 30, it got a vote in the Senate, and every single Democrat voted against it. That tells you all you need to know about their priorities. And it’s not the people. It’s their portfolios.
Because at the end of the day, this isn’t about left or right. It’s about right and wrong.
Every decision Congress makes on taxes, energy, trade, and spending lands on your family’s budget. You deserve to know those decisions are made for you, not for D.C. politicians’ portfolios.
That’s what being a public servant means. You don’t come to Washington to serve yourself. You come to serve the people who sent you. For me, that’s Hoosiers. And I’ll keep that promise every single day.