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More than 40 former members of Congress said the ETHICS Act is sorely needed because it "addresses pressing issues, especially low levels of trust in Congress and the appearance of insider trading."
A bipartisan group of more than 40 former federal lawmakers on Monday urged the U.S. Senate to vote on proposed legislation that would ban sitting members of Congress from buying or selling stocks and other financial holdings.
"We, the undersigned bipartisan former public officials, many of whom served in Congress, write to urge Senate leadership to bring the amended Ending Trading and Holdings In Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act to a floor vote before it is set to sunset at the end of the 118th Congress," the letter's signers wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Signatories include former Sens. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) along with Reps. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.), and Leon Panetta (D-Calif.).
"Notably," the ex-lawmakers said, "we propose attaching this crucial legislation to any 'must-pass' package. This legislation merits inclusion in such a package because it addresses pressing issues, especially low levels of trust in Congress and the appearance of insider trading."
The letter continues:
As you are both aware, the discussion of how elected officials trade stocks has been intensifying both inside and outside the Congress for years. In 2022, members of Congress made more than 12,700 individual trades, with dozens of members making above-average gains. A 2022 New York Timesinvestigation reported that a fifth of all lawmakers were trading in companies directly related to their work on a congressional committee.
Critics have long decried existing legislation—including the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 and the Stop Trading Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012, which require annual financial disclosures by members of Congress—as largely toothless window dressing. Advocates of measures like the ETHICS Act have pushed for more stringent safeguards against self-dealing by members of Congress.
The ETHICS Act—which was introduced in July by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)—would ban members of Congress, the president, and vice president from buying and selling securities, commodities, futures, options, trusts, and other holdings. It would also prohibit their spouses and dependent children from divesting covered assets starting in 2027. The bill contains robust enforcement mechanisms and noncompliance penalties.
Calls for a vote on the ETHICS Act mounted after last week's revelation that more than 50 U.S. lawmakers held stocks in companies related to the military-industrial complex—even as those same firms received hundreds of billions of dollars in annual business via congressional legislation.
After 18 months of bipartisan investigation, the United States Senate on Tuesday published a report and held a hearing on the medical abuse of women jailed in Georgia by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has been accused of covering up the widespread mistreatment by deporting survivors and witnesses.
"Irwin is the worst place I have ever been in my life."
The report, which pertains specifically to ICE's Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) in Ocilla, Georgia, was written by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is chaired by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.).
The subcommittee investigated numerous allegations of medical abuse at the private prison--which is owned by LaSalle Southeast LLC--including alleged "high rates" of forced hysterectomies performed by Dr. Mahendra Amin, excessive and unnecessary gynecological procedures, medical neglect, and other mistreatment. LaSalle--which claims to be "run with family values"--has come under fire for proven and alleged negligent homicide, beatings, sexual assault, discrimination, and other crimes and mistreatment by staff at several of its prisons.
\u201cReminder: ICE knew as far back as 2018 about the systematic medical abuse of migrant women detained at the Irwin County Detention Center.\n\nThey refused to do anything. \n\nInstead, they promptly proceeded to cover their tracks in the fall of 2020 by deporting survivors & witnesses.\u201d— Azadeh Shahshahani (@Azadeh Shahshahani) 1668545273
While the Senate panel found no evidence of mass forced sterilizations--the two hysterectomies performed by Amin between 2017 and 2019 were deemed medically necessary--it did corroborate many other claims of detainee abuse.
Among the report's key findings:
"This is one of the most outrageous things this subcommittee has investigated over the past two years," Ossoff said during the hearing. "This is an extraordinarily disturbing finding, and in my view represents a catastrophic failure by the federal government to respect basic human rights."
\u201cSen @ossoff: "What would you say to the women who went through this?\n\nICE Health Service Corps Asst. Director Stewart Smith: "It's disheartening."\n\nOssoff: "It's disheartening? Dr. Smith, you have full responsibility, we've established that. This is worse than disheartening."\u201d— CSPAN (@CSPAN) 1668548693
Karina Cisneros Preciado, a 23-year-old mother of two who was brought to the United States when she was eight years old and was arrested after reporting her domestic abuser, testified during the hearing that Amin attempted to force her to undergo ovarian surgery to which she did not consent and gave her a birth control injection without telling her what it was or asking permission.
"I had no control over my body," she said. "Before this experience, I had suffered sexual assault before, as a child. So... the experience with Dr. Amin made me feel the same thing I felt, it made me feel like I had no control over my body, no say, no vote."
"Irwin is the worst place I have ever been in my life," Cisneros said. "I went from being Karina, a mother, to just being 72176. They didn't care about what we felt, they didn't care about our names, they didn't care about none of that."
\u201cThank you, Senator Ossoff, for your commitment to seeking accountability for the survivors of abuse in ICE detention.\n\nWe hope that this fuels further scrutiny of the other for-profit ICE detention centers in Georgia, where abuse has gone on with impunity for too long.\u201d— CVT Georgia (@CVT Georgia) 1668544641
Cisneros said she was held at ICDC for nearly seven months, and when she was finally reunited with her daughter--an infant at the time of her arrest--the child was "already walking" and "didn't know who I was."
In related news, Common Dreams reported Tuesday that The Intercept obtained and published video footage of a hunger-striking asylum-seeker detained by ICE being force-fed--a possible violation of international law--in 2019.
On the heels of a dramatic Friday night debate, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock's campaign took aim at his Republican opponent for refusing to commit to facing off again in Atlanta Sunday evening.
"If Herschel Walker can't show up for a debate, he can't be trusted to show up for Georgians in the U.S. Senate."
While Warnock (D-Ga.) and Libertarian Chase Oliver plan to attend the 7:00 pm ET debate hosted by the Atlanta Press Club, the controversial Republican candidate, Herschel Walker, has not accepted an invitation.
Warnock's campaign said in a statement Sunday that Walker "denying Georgians multiple opportunities" to see the difference between the candidates reaffirms that "he is not ready to represent the people of Georgia."
"On Friday night, Rev. Warnock showed voters the clear choice Georgians have in this election, and while he will do the same tonight in Atlanta, Herschel Walker won't be there because he's refusing Georgians that opportunity," said Quentin Fulks, the Democrat's campaign manager.
"If Herschel Walker can't show up for a debate," Fulks added, "he can't be trusted to show up for Georgians in the U.S. Senate."
Warnock and fellow Georgia Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff both won crucial runoff races last year, giving their party narrow control of the upper chamber. Only Warnock is up for reelection this year. Early voting for next month's midterms begins on Monday in the state.
Recent polling shows Warnock winning over Walker, but in several cases that lead has been within the survey's margin of error. The Georgia race is one of a few--along with contests in Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin--expected to determine whether Democrats retain Senate control.
Walker and Warnock have so far only debated once--last Friday. During that meeting, the incumbent stressed that his GOP challenger--a former professional football player with a history of domestic violence and a dissociative identity disorder diagnosis--"has a problem with the truth."
Referencing incidents from Walker's past, Warnock said Friday, "One thing I have not done--I've never pretended to be a police officer, and I've never threatened a shootout with the police."
In a move that has since garnered national headlines, Walker insisted on defending his previous claims of a career in law enforcement and took out an honorary badge--prompting an argument with a debate moderator, who stressed that props were not allowed.
\u201cHerschel Walker (R) falsely claimed in 2017 that he had worked with police in Cobb County, Georgia, and two years later claimed he was an FBI agent. https://t.co/7hFINeY8qv\u201d— The Recount (@The Recount) 1665790855
Citing Walker campaign spokesperson Will Kiley, The New York Timesreported that "the badge was given to him in recognition of community service work he had done with the Cobb County sheriff's department," and he has another from Johnson County, which includes his hometown.
The newspaper noted that representatives for both departments were unavailable to comment but spoke to other state sources who put the honorary badge into context:
"Georgia sheriffs were seriously handing out those badges like candy in a candy dish," J.Tom Morgan, a former district attorney in DeKalb County, Georgia, who was elected as a Democrat, said in an interview on Saturday. "That badge gives you no law enforcement authority. He doesn't have the power to write a traffic ticket."
Mr. Morgan, who is now a professor at Western Carolina University, said the badges became so widely abused that the Georgia Sheriffs' Association curtailed the practice of giving them out.
"What would happen is somebody would get stopped for speeding, and they would whip out one of those badges," he said. "And there were people charged with impersonating a police officer."
Walker was widely ridiculed for the onstage stunt.
Media Matters for America's Matthew Gertz said of the badge-flashing that "Republican leaders are willing to accept dumb antics like this because they know Herschel Walker will be a vote for cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and banning abortion nationwide."
An ex-girlfriend recently claimed that Walker reimbursed her for an abortion he encouraged her to have--providing The Daily Beast with a clinic receipt, a "get well" card from the anti-choice candidate, and a bank deposit slip. She then told the Times that he unsuccessfully pressured her to terminate a second pregnancy, resulting in a now-10-year-old son.
Walker declined to comment on the Times report but has repeatedly denied that he paid for the woman's abortion, calling it "a lie" at the debate. In contrast with previous comments on the topic, Walker also claimed Friday he does not back a federal ban on abortion and instead supports Georgia's law that prohibits terminating a pregnancy after around six weeks, with limited exceptions.
\u201cGeorgians support the right to abortion. They deserve a Senator who agrees. \n\nThey deserve @ReverendWarnock, and we need to send him back to the Senate. #GASenDebate\u201d— Planned Parenthood Action (@Planned Parenthood Action) 1665791817
Since Friday, Warnock's campaign and supporters of the Democrat have highlighted various moments from the debate, from the badge incident to the Democrat's comments in support of abortion rights.
Walker, while addressing his opposition to federal legislation capping the cost of insulin, said Friday that "I believe in reducing insulin, but at the same time, you gotta eat right... Unless you have eating right, insulin is doing you no good."
\u201cThis is incredibly insulting to the more than 1 million Georgians living with diabetes.\u201d— Reverend Raphael Warnock (@Reverend Raphael Warnock) 1665797132
Some critics of Walker noted that while diet and exercise may help some people prevent Type 2 diabetes, there are no known ways to prevent Type 1 diabetes, and those with it must take insulin daily to survive.
\u201cTo Herschel Walker, Rand Paul, and every jackass politician who thinks diabetics are lazy people with bad diets. Type 1 diabetics like me need insulin to live. Dieting will not make my disease go away. We shouldn\u2019t die because we can\u2019t afford our medicine. Insulin should be free.\u201d— Charles Booker (@Charles Booker) 1665799341
Meanwhile, Warnock argued that Georgia should expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and "needs a senator who believes, like I do, that healthcare is a human right."