WASHINGTON—Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) is expected to introduce legislation Monday that would ban senior executive branch officials from owning or trading individual stocks, a push to toughen restrictions on conflicts of interest in the federal government.
Mr. Hawley’s bill is the latest fallout from a Wall Street Journal series that identified a sweeping pattern of financial conflicts across the executive branch, including finding that more than 2,600 officials invested in companies overseen by their agencies.
“Senior members of the executive branch—who have access to privileged information—shouldn’t be using it to get rich,” Mr. Hawley said. “While prohibitions already exist in federal law to prevent conflicts of interest, these laws are difficult to enforce and frankly, insufficient.”
Source: Effort to Ban Stock Trading Among Executive Branch Officials Renewed – WSJ
