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Anything Goes

Anything Goes

FromThe Continuous Action


Anything Goes

FromThe Continuous Action

ratings:
Length:
30 minutes
Released:
Apr 13, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

Members of Congress write their own rules — and those rules allow stock trades galore!In this episode of The Continuous Action, host Walt Shaub dives into topic of congressional stock trading, outlining the problems with the practice and asking the question we’re all thinking: How is this legal? He’s joined by a member of Congress who’s leading a bipartisan coalition working to make sure it won’t stay legal for long. The fact is, there’s no way for us to know what our elected representatives learn in closed-door government briefings, or whether they’re profiting from that knowledge. But what we do know is that members of Congress and their immediate families are free to buy and sell stocks while they’re in office, and some of them are turning quite a profit.  Even if they’re all following the rules, the lack of adequate guardrails is enough to shake the public’s faith. And it has: at least one poll shows that more than 70% of voters favor banning congressional stock trading.  To learn more, Walt talks with Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) about the quest to ban congressional stock trading. Spanberger leads a bipartisan coalition of members, including Representative Chip Roy (R-TX), which is fighting to put a congressional stock trading ban in place. They may not agree on much else, but these dozens of members of Congress agree that time has come to stop the trades. For transcript and show notes, visit pogo.org/podcasts/the-continuous-action ** Special thanks to Caroline Kenney and Jason Linkins, whose voices appear at the top of this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Released:
Apr 13, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (14)

The Continuous Action, a five-part podcast exploring the labor of democracy, will work to pin down what our troubled republic demands of us, ordinary citizens, right now. Join Walt Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, and Virginia Heffernan, journalist and host of Trumpcast, as they talk with analysts, activists, government leaders and philanthropists to break down some of the biggest issues our democracy faces — and to identify some paths forward. The podcast is broken into five episodes on the following topics: defending voting rights, pursuing truth in government, addressing government surveillance, reining in the executive branch, and getting the government we deserve. The inspiration for the title “The Continuous Action” comes from the admonition by John Lewis that “freedom is not a state; it is an act.” Speaking of our duty as citizens, he proclaimed: “Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society.”  The Continuous Action is sponsored by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), hosted by Walt Shaub and Virginia Heffernan, and produced by Myron Kaplan. Stay tuned on the latest from POGO: pogo.org/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.