In his last few weeks in office, President Joe Biden is voicing support for banning members of Congress from trading stocks, a significant shift in his position on a long-standing controversy over congressional trading.

“Nobody in the Congress should be able to make money in the stock market while they’re in the Congress,” Biden said in an interview with Faiz Shakir, a political adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders. The interview is being released this week by A More Perfect Union, a pro-labor organization.

The statement marks a departure from Biden’s previous stance. His former press secretary, Jen Psaki, had indicated two years ago that the president would defer to congressional leadership on establishing trading rules.

During the interview, Shakir praised Biden for not investing in major tech companies like Google, Boeing, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Amazon during his 36-year tenure as a US senator from Delaware. 

“I don’t know how you look your constituents in the eye and know, because the job they gave you, gave you an inside track to make more money,” Biden said. “I think we should be changing the law.”

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The issue gained prominence during the coronavirus pandemic when some lawmakers traded millions in stocks following virus-related briefings. A bipartisan proposal to ban trading by members of Congress and their families has attracted dozens of sponsors but has not come to a vote.

Current rules require lawmakers to disclose stock transactions exceeding $1,000, though compliance has been inconsistent, with some members filing late or failing to report altogether.

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