APPLETON — Democratic Senate candidate Tom Nelson today has called on Republican Ron Johnson and the other Democrats in the race to join him in supporting a ban on insider stock trading among members of Congress.
Current law allows member of Congress to own and trade stock, even if they have access to information not available to the general public.
Nelson, the grassroots populist Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and Outagamie County Executive, called on billionaire Republican Ron Johnson and his Democratic opponents to support a permanent ban on members of Congress and their families from trading stocks.
Nelson says the self-dealing practice has contributed to the creation of a rigged economy, especially during the COVID crisis.
In Nelson’s call for the permanent ban on stock trading for members of Congress, he mirrored the recent bill pushed by U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff and also stood up to Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her comments that stock trading should be allowed due to the “free economy.”
“Working Wisconsin families don’t have access to insider information like so many members of Congress,” Nelson said. “No wonder trust in Congress is so low when insiders like Speaker Pelosi support allowing members and their families to profit off of stock trades.”
I challenge Senator Ron Johnson and my fellow Democratic opponents, some of whom have personal stock in companies like Exxon, Pfizer, and ConocoPhillips, to join me in supporting Sen. Ossoff’s effort to restore trust in our elected officials by banning this corrupt practice.
“Speaker Pelosi’s support for this type of self-dealing lets members of Congress betray the needs of workers who will never own stocks or be given multi-million dollar stakes in family businesses like Sen. Johnson. We’re supposed to work FOR working families. Not profit from any special access.”
Tom Nelson statement
