Members of Congress are on a summer stock shopping spree — and still violating financial disclosure law — amid a reinvigorated movement to ban congressional stock trading. Three members of the House of Representatives appear to have violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act this week by filing required reports late — some as much as two years past a federally mandated deadline. From Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to Rep.
Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), more than a dozen other members of Congress continue trading stocks and securities, even in the immediate two weeks after the Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act passed out of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security. The bill has yet to be voted on by either the House or Senate in order to be sent to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law, but its bipartisan co-sponsors call the committee vote “ strong bipartisan momentum ” toward a stock trading ban. Continuing epidemic of violations The latest STOCK Act violators appear to be Reps.
David Joyce (R-OH), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Stephen Lynch (D-MA), who join a list of more than 50 members of the 118th Congress who Raw Story has found to have violated the STOCK Act. Joyce reported on Aug. 6 a dozen stock transactions after the 45-day deadline required in the STOCK Act for disclosing most purchases, sales and exchanges of stocks, bonds, commodity futures, securities and cryptocurrencies.
Three of the transactions date back to July 2022, reported nearly two years late, and the rest are from June 2023, reported a year late. The transactions are valued between $138,012 and $495,000 total. (Lawmakers are only required by law to disclose the values of their transactions in broad ranges.
) Investments include stock in aerospace corporation Boeing, multinational investment bank Citigroup, private credit manager Golub Capital and energy company TC Energy Corporation. Some investments are part of a trust, others from a retirement account. Moskowitz disclosed on Aug.
6 more than 60 stock transactions from an account for a dependent child. Ten of those transactions were from February 2024, reported nearly five months late. Rep.
Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) speaks to reporters on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building on July 25, 2024.
(Photo by Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images) The tardy stocks include investments in companies ranging from health insurance provider Elevance Health to personal care multinational corporation Kimberly-Clark to footwear giant Nike and manufacturing company Snap-on. The value of the 60 investments are each in the $1,001 to $15,000 range.
Lynch reported on Aug. 7 six sale transactions and one purchase for mutual funds as part of a retirement account, disclosed three weeks late. The transactions’ values ranged between $397,007 and $930,000 total.
Lynch was previously three months late reporting the sale of VMware stock as part of an individual retirement account that underwent a “forced sale” when the compant was acquired. The congressional offices for Joyce, Moskowitz and Lynch did not immediately respond to Raw Story’s request for comment. Who is trading stocks? And who is pushing for a ban? The ETHICS Act calls for an immediate ban on members of Congress buying stocks and would prohibit them from selling stocks 90 days after enactment.
Members’ spouses and dependent children would be prohibited from trading stocks starting in March 2027, which is when the president and vice president would also be required to divest from covered investments. Covered assets include securities, commodities, futures, options and trusts. Congressional staff members would be allowed to continue trading stocks under this bill as would legislators' non-dependent children.
“Lawmakers like me, we're kind of like umpires in a baseball game. We call balls and strikes, and you definitely don't let umpires bet on the outcome of the game, because the public needs to know the umpires are calling balls and strikes fair,” said Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), a co-sponsor of the ETHICS Act, in an Aug.
7 video posted on X. “Members of Congress are making decisions every day that impact the stock market, that impact businesses and industries, and we receive confidential information on big events that are coming.” Ossoff co-sponsored an amended version of the ETHICS Act alongside Sens.
Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Gary Peters (D-MI) and Josh Hawley (R-MO). The bill passed out of a Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs markup on July 24 with an eight to four vote, despite Republican senators divided on how to proceed . The same day Georgia Republicans Greene and Rep.
Buddy Carter (R-GA) disclosed stock transactions. Greene reported six stock purchases on July 24, each valued between $1,001 and $15,000. She also disclosed the purchase of U.
S. Treasury bills valued between $250,0001 and $500,000. A little over a week later, she reported on Aug.
2 purchasing more Treasury bills, with a value between $100,001 and $250,000. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on the first day of the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024.
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Carter reported on July 24 four partial stock sales in Ameris Bancorp, each valued between $100,001 and $250,000. Greene and Carter’s congressional offices did not respond to emailed questions by the time of publication. The next day Rep.
Victoria Spartz (R-IN) reported the June 28 purchase of stock in real estate investment company, Simon Property Group, as a part of her husband’s Roth IRA, valued between $50,001 and $100,000. “These are just stocks that Congresswoman's husband had in his retirement account before she was elected to Congress,” Kristi Risk, chief of staff for Spartz, told Raw Story via email. “He was just reinvesting his dividends back into the same stock.
” Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) reported on July 29 the sale of stock in boat dealer, OneWater Marine Inc., as part of a joint account.
Value: $1,001 to $15,000. Britt’s congressional office did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment. Pelosi reported on July 30 two stock transactions from her husband, who is a prolific trader .
When she was House Speaker, Pelosi was one of the biggest obstacles to previous stock ban bills advancing. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) at a press conference on March 21, 2024, holds the gavel she used in the House of Representatives 14 years earlier when the Affordable Care Act was passed.
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, sold 5,000 shares in Microsoft valued between $1 million and $5 million, and he purchased 10,000 shares in artificial intelligence leader Nvidia, also valued between $1 million and $5 million. “Speaker Pelosi does not own any stocks, and she has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions,” said Ian Krager, a spokesperson for Pelosi, via email. Rep.
Michael Burgess (R-TX) disclosed three stock transactions on July 31, each valued up to $15,000. His spouse sold stock in Royal Bank of Canada and shipping company, United Parcel Service, and Burgess reported his own purchase of additional stock in Royal Bank of Canada. While Rep.
Dean Phillips (D-MN) does not buy and sell stocks , he did report sales of ownership interest in Outsell, Inc, a “developer of consumer engagement technologies for the automotive industry,” according to the Aug. 1 disclosure report . The sales were valued between just over $1 million and $5 million, total.
"Congressman Phillips is one of a very small number of lawmakers to have voluntary established a qualified blind trust for his finances. He has no view of or direction over his investments," Sam Anderson, communications director for Phillips, told Raw Story via email. "That long, complicated, process took significant personal effort and expense, but it’s one he believes should be rule – not the exception – in Congress.
" Phillips, who ran as a Democrat for president in the 2024 race, is an original co-sponsor of the TRUST in Congress Act. The bill, authored by Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and Chip Roy (R-TX), would require members of Congress and their families to put investment assets into blind trusts during their time in office and ban them from trading individual stocks.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) reported on Aug. 2 his spouse’s sale of a UBS corporate bond valued between $15,001 and $50,000.
Carper filed a timely disclosure this time but was previously late three times in reporting stock trades and U.S. Treasury bill purchases.
Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) reported on Aug. 3 the sale and purchase of U.
S. Treasury bills. Each transaction was valued between $250,001 and $500,000.
The congressional spokespeople for Burgess, Carper and Meuser did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment. Peters, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee and co-sponsor of the latest ETHICS Act bipartisan agreement, reported two stock sales on Aug. 5 .
Each trade was valued between $1,001 and $15,000 and were investments in elevator manufacturer, Otis Worldwide Corp., and heating and air conditioning corporation, Carrier. “Sen.
Peters has always been transparent about his trades and follows the requirements of the STOCK Act, which is the current law,” a Peters aide, who declined to be named, told Raw Story. “He negotiated a bipartisan agreement to update the ETHICS Act, and led the historic passage of that bill out of committee on July 24 – the first time a Senate committee has ever voted to advance legislation that would ban stock trading for members of Congress,” the aide continued. “Sen.
Peters is continuing to work to get the amended ETHICS Act passed and signed into law to establish new requirements for all members of Congress. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) departs the senate chamber following a vote at the U.
S. Capitol on July 31, 2024. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images) Rep.
Laurel Lee (R-FL) reported on Aug. 5 two stock transactions involving tech giant Apple, valued between $15,001 and $50,000 each. Rep.
Rudy Yakym (R-IN) has not reported any stock transactions, but disclosed on Aug. 5 his purchase of Treasury bills valued between $15,001 and $50,000. Yakym and Lee’s congressional spokespeople did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) reported on Aug. 5 a purchase of shares in soda giant Coca-Cola, valued between $1,001 and $15,001, which is “solely the automatic reinvestment of dividends on securities that my wife inherited, rather than taking the dividends in cash,” Doggett told Raw Story via email.
Doggett said he does not trade individual stocks, “nor have the holdings of these few stocks impacted my work, as indicated by my vocal advocacy demanding that large corporations and the wealthiest few pay their fair share of taxes.” The congressman said the New York Times chose to exclude him from an investigation into congressional stock trading since he does not actively trade individual stocks. Doggett said he supports a congressional stock trading ban, including the efforts of Oregon senator Merkley through the ETHICS Act, and “would likely support similar legislation in the House.
” Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA) reported on Aug. 6 two government securities transactions in Texas and New York through a joint trust, each valued between $500,001 and $1 million.
“Government securities are generally considered safe investments,” Nick Martin, a spokesperson for DelBene, told Raw Story via email. “The congresswoman supports banning members from trading stocks and is a co-sponsor of the TRUST in Congress Act (H.R.
345), which would do that.” DelBene has a complex financial situation due to her husband’s significant investments from his time as a senior executive at Microsoft. DelBene was previously late disclosing two sales of vested Microsoft shares totaling between $1.
25 million and $5.5 million, but she previously disclosed her family's s Microsoft stock investments on her annual disclosures and a 2022 periodic transaction report, providing details of a forward contract her husband enacted before being confirmed as the assistant secretary for information and technology in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Rep.
Virginia Foxx (R-NC) reported four stock purchases on Aug. 6, each valued between $1,001 and $15,000. Three stock purchases were for chemical tankers company, Ardmore Shipping Corporation, and one was in investment adviser, Ellington Financial Inc.
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) speaks during a news conference to decry pro-Palestinian protests at universities across the country at on April 30, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Sen.
John Boozman (R-AR) reported on Aug. 6 five joint stock transactions, each in the $1,001 to $15,000 range. Stock transactions included investments in Alphabet, the parent company of Google, telecommunications company, Motorola Solutions, and semiconductor company, Lam Research.
Boozman previously appeared to be in violation of the STOCK Act twice with late disclosures of U.S. Treasury bond transactions.
with a disclosure filed on Aug. 21, 2023, a day past the 45-day disclosure deadline. Foxx and Boozman’s congressional offices did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro suspended access to the social media site X on Thursday, as he faced renewed pressure from a trio of friendly Latin American nations to release data proving his claimed reelection was valid. The president announced his government was blocking the social media platform formerly known as Twitter for 10 days, while accusing the site's owner Elon Musk of "inciting hate and fascism" in Venezuela. Election authorities declared Maduro the winner of the July 28 vote but have yet to release detailed results, leading left-wing allies Brazil, Colombia and Mexico on Thursday to reiterate a joint call on the National Electoral Council (CNE) to disclose polling records.
Protests sparked last week by the declaration of Maduro's victory left at least 24 people dead, according to rights groups, with thousands also arrested. The Venezuelan opposition claims to have won in a landslide and warned Thursday of a potential mass exodus if Maduro is allowed to remain in power. "If Maduro chooses to stay by force, the only thing we will see is a wave of migration like never before: three, four, five million Venezuelans in a very short span of time," opposition leader Maria Corina Machado -- who was barred from running in the election -- said in a video conference with Mexican news outlets.
According to the United Nations , more than seven million Venezuelans have fled the country of 30 million since Maduro took over in 2013, mostly to other Latin American countries and the United States. Maduro has overseen an unprecedented economic crisis, including an 80 percent drop in the once-wealthy oil-rich country's GDP, amid domestic economic mismanagement and international sanctions. Washington has spearheaded sanctions against the Maduro regime and on Thursday threatened that further measures would be taken if Maduro were to arrest Machado or Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the retired diplomat who stood as the opposition candidate in the election.
"I think that would be a step that could mobilize the international community even more, even those that might be somewhat sympathetic and don't want to rattle things too much in Venezuela," Francisco Mora, US ambassador to the Organization of American States, said at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank. Machado -- who says she fears for her life -- and Gonzalez Urrutia have been in hiding for more than a week. Highlighting the opposition's perilous security situation, two other leaders were arrested Thursday, party officials and family members said.
Ex-lawmakers Williams Davila and Americo De Grazia were arrested separately, adding to the growing list of reported sudden post-election detainments. - 'International hysteria' - The public prosecutor's office has opened a criminal probe against Machado and Gonzalez Urrutia for "usurpation of functions, diffusion of false information, incitement to disobedience of the laws, incitement to insurrection" and "criminal association." Citing his fear that he would be "jeopardizing" his freedom if he did so, Gonzalez Urrutia on Wednesday defied a Supreme Court summons over the disputed results.
The court summoned all presidential candidates, including Maduro, and other opposition politicians, some of whom did attend. Maduro is due to appear before the court on Friday. Fellow left-wing governments from Brazil, Colombia and Mexico praised the verification process undertaken by the court but released a statement saying that they "start from the premise that the CNE is the organ legally mandated to transparently disclose the electoral results.
" Critics say the court, and the electoral authority, are unfailingly loyal to Maduro, who wants the body to simply "validate" his victory. The CNE ratified Maduro's victory with 52 percent of votes, but did not publish detailed results and even claimed to have been hacked. The opposition has launched a website with copies of 84 percent of ballots cast, showing an easy win for Gonzalez Urrutia with two-thirds of votes.
The government claims those are forged. The opposition and several observers accuse the CNE of inventing the hack at the government's behest to avoid publishing the real results. Vice President Delcy Rodriguez on Thursday hit out at the international community and critics on social media for "an international hysteria around the (election) minutes, they could even make a Netflix series.
" Maduro on Thursday night told a rally of supporters that X, formerly Twitter, would be "withdrawn from circulation" by the state agency in charge of telecommunications. He did not give details on how the suspension would work. "No one will silence me, I will confront the espionage of the technological empire," he said, accusing American billionaire Musk of "inciting hatred and fascism.
" Jennie Lincoln, head of the Carter Center delegation that was invited to monitor the Venezuelan election, told AFP that that US-based organization had "no evidence" of a cyberattack. In addition to the protester deaths, Maduro announced the death of two police officers and the arrest of more than 2,200 people. Once a Cold War base that would have been the pride of James Bond villains, an Albanian island is set for an overhaul after Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump unveiled plans to revamp its wild beauty.
The daughter of former US president Donald Trump and her partner want luxury villas to go up on the island of Sazan that for decades served as a garrison with bunkers, fallout shelters and a warren of tunnels designed to withstand a nuclear attack. The base epitomised the paranoia rampant during the four-decade rule of Albania's Stalinist strongman Enver Hoxha after World War II. "The island was dotted with 2,840 bunkers with heavy machine guns and other automatic weapons," Ylli Mecaj -- a former soldier stationed at Sazan -- told AFP.
"There were also kilometers of tunnels and underground installations, fallout shelters to house ammunition and food reserves," the 78-year-old retired naval officer added. During the socialist era, more than 2,000 people lived on the island base -- outfitted with a cinema, school, and hospital -- that was designed to last for months if cut off from the rest of the country. The base fell into ruin following the collapse of the communist government in 1991.
- Dilapidated base - The downfall of the communist regime set off years of chaos in Albania, with an economic collapse in 1997 sparking a brief civil war that saw military depots and armories emptied, including on Sazan. For now, the island is peppered with wild mulberry and fig trees set against the sea's turquoise waters, while the former military installations are dilapidated shells. Big changes could be on the way for the island, which was only reopened to the public in 2015.
News first broke in March that Ivanka Trump and her husband were pursuing ambitious development plans on Sazan and a separate project in the Serbian capital Belgrade. The Trump family has a long history of embarking on luxury projects around the world. Some critics have accused the power couple of leveraging their time in the White House to secure overseas business deals.
But the Albanian government has sought to bolster the economy through tourism, prompting a building boom along large swaths of the coast. The Kushner-backed development is still in the planning stages and needs further government approval before ground can be broken on dozens of villas set amid the rocks of Sazan. But excitement is already palpable in some quarters.
"We can't wait for this to start because it triggers chain reactions for the city's economy," said the mayor of Vlora, Ermal Dredha, whose city looks across the water to Sazan. Vlora, in southwestern Albania, has been one of the largest beneficiaries of Albania's tourism surge, with apartment blocks and resorts now crowding its shores that attract millions of visitors a year. The scene stands in stark contrast to Sazan island, where the Trumps are the latest in a long line of foreigners who have sought a foothold.
- Trump zone - Situated at the entrance of Vlora bay at a strategic point where the Adriatic and Ionian seas meet, the tiny island has been coveted over the centuries by the Venetians, Greeks, Italians and Germans, among others. Still classified as a military zone, the island has seen just a trickle of Albania's tourist onslaught every summer. Daily boats bring visitors to walk along Sazan's winding paths and admire the island's only inhabitant -- a small grey donkey.
Few official details have emerged about the future luxury development. In an interview published in July, Ivanka Trump said the island's isolation brought its own unique challenges. "The logistics of even getting the building materials to an island are no joke, but we will execute on it," she said.
"The best architects and the best brands" were involved in the project. After years of neglect, Sazan's impending makeover will likely leave little of its former James Bond romance -- for better or worse. "Sazan is no longer Sazan.
There are no more weapons, no cannons, no anti-aircraft machine guns, no ships, the bunkers are in ruins," said Mecaj. "It is open to whoever wants to occupy it." Part of former U.
S. President Donald Trump's GOP presidential campaign strategy has involved repeatedly asking, "Where's Kamala?" On Thursday, one of the nation's largest labor unions resoundingly responded: "At UAW Local 900 in Wayne, Michigan with 150 autoworkers." That's what United Auto Workers communications director Jonah Furman said on social media as Vice President Kamala Harris and her Democratic running mate, Minnesota Gov.
Tim Walz , joined UAW members at the Local 900 hall in Wayne following the union's endorsement for president "To me, this election is real simple. It's about one question, a question we've made famous in the labor movement: Which side are you on?" UAW president Shawn Fain said at the swing state rally. "On one side, we've got a billionaire who serves himself and his billionaire buddies.
He lies, cheats, and steals his way to the top. He is the lapdog of the billionaire class," said Fain, who has called Trump a "scab." "On the other side, we've got a badass woman who has stood on the picket line with working-class people," he continued.
" Kamala Harris is a champion of the working class." In 2019, Kamala Harris—then a U.S.
senator from California running for president—walked a picket line with striking UAW workers in Reno, Nevada. President Joe Biden made history last year as the first U.S.
president to join striking workers on a picket line when he rallied with UAW members outside of a General Motors plant in Belleville, Michigan as they fought for a fair contract. The Biden-Harris administration has often been called the most pro-labor presidency in modern history. "You know, every time Donald Trump gets the chance, he trashes our union," Fain said.
"He comes to Michigan and talks about how he's gonna bring back the auto industry...
While he was the president of the United States, auto plants were fleeing the country." Speaking at Thursday's rally, Harris said, "I am so deeply honored, as a lifelong supporter of union labor, for Tim and I to have the endorsement of the UAW." "When you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for," she added.
"We stand for the people. We stand for the dignity of work. We stand for justice.
We stand for equality. And we will fight for all of it." Harris has won the endorsement of labor organizations including the AFL-CIO , National Education Association, National Nurses United, and—despite a dubious Trump promise to stop taxing tips—the service industry unions SEIU and UNITE HERE.
"We know which side we're on," Fain said Wednesday in a statement endorsing Harris. "We're voting for Kamala Harris in 2024. Because she's walked the walk.
Because she supports working-class people when we fight for more. And because we don't need another billionaire in the White House ." "Donald Trump is no friend of the working class," Fain added.
"Donald Trump is a scab. I'm a UAW member, and I'm voting for Kamala Harris for president.".
