Congresswoman Ashley Hinson: No Member of Congress Should Be Trading on Prediction Markets

**This column is for publication**

Iowans and Americans deserve to have full confidence that their representatives are serving the public – not themselves.

That’s why I am pushing to stop Members of Congress from trading individual stocks (my husband and I sold our publicly traded individual stocks shortly after I began serving in Congress and do not trade stocks) and why I’m working to end all forms of corrupt insider trading in Washington, D.C. 

This includes ensuring Members of Congress and senior federal officials cannot trade on prediction markets – platforms that allow users to bet on political and policy outcomes – using non-public information. In many cases, these trades don’t have to be publicly disclosed, so officials could be profiting off insider knowledge with little to no accountability. I can’t think of anything swampier than that.  

That’s why I’m leading the effort to ban Members of Congress and their staff from trading on prediction markets. I introduced legislation that would amend House rules to prohibit this insider trading and am pushing our leadership to bring this to the House floor for an immediate vote – I can’t imagine who would vote against this commonsense bill!

I’m also working across the aisle to support the Preventing Real-time Exploitation and Deceptive Insider Congressional Trading Act, or the PREDICT Act. This bipartisan bill would prohibit Members of Congress, other senior government officials, and their families from trading on political and policy outcomes. 

If you’re influencing policies that move markets, you shouldn’t be allowed to bet on them. It’s that simple.

Iowans – and all Americans – expect fairness, transparency, and integrity from those elected to serve them. They want to know that decisions in Washington are being made based on what’s best for the country, not what benefits someone’s pocketbook or portfolio.

There is still way more work to do to clean up Washington, but this is an important step in the right direction. I will continue fighting to root out corruption and restore integrity to public service.
 

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