SW New Mexico News

On June 23, 2023, Representative Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) announced his co-sponsorship of the bipartisan Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust (TRUST) in Congress Act that would require Members of Congress — as well as their spouses and dependent children — to put certain investment assets into a qualified blind trust during their entire tenure in Congress, effectively banning them from trading individual stocks and eliminating loopholes.

“Representatives are supposed to be in office to serve their constituents, not their own financial interests. I’m proud to be leading the effort to ban stock trading for Members of Congress and their families,” said Vasquez. “The American people need to be able to trust their elected officials, and banning Representatives from unethically profiting from their positions is the first step to secure that trust.”

By establishing this new firewall between Members and their investments, the TRUST in Congress Act would make sure Members of Congress cannot use their positions in the U.S. House or U.S. Senate to unethically inform investment decisions, influence the value of their existing investments, or contribute to greater distrust between the American people and their elected officials.

This legislation is supported by several advocacy and government accountability organizations across the political spectrum including the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), the National Taxpayers Union, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Public Citizen, the Campaign Legal Center, Taxpayers for Common Sense, FreedomWorks, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Protect Democracy, Americans for Prosperity, the Government Accountability Project, Issue One, PEER, Democracy12, Fix the Court, and the ECU Action Fund.

Original source can be found here.