Why members of Congress keep breaking financial laws over and over again
Throughout 2023, federal lawmakers kept introducing a steady stream of bills designed to stop congressional stock trading.
At the same time, their colleagues continued breaking existing financial disclosure and conflicts-of-interest laws.
Nothing has come of those bills yet, but Raw Story has identified at least 37 members of Congress this year who violated federal law by not properly disclosing their personal finances as required by the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 and the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012.
"These laws matter in a large part for public trust and transparency," said Raw Story investigative reporter Alexandria Jacobson on "The Julie Mason Show" on SiriusXM's POTUS Politics channel Tuesday.
Jacobson's latest reporting found another 11 members of Congress, including embattled Rep. George Santos (R-NY), who all failed to properly file their annual financial disclosure reports on time.
"We find these violations happen on both sides of the aisle," Jacobson said, noting that of the 11 who didn't file on time, seven were Democrats and four were Republicans.
Santos, who is facing numerous criminal charges and expulsion from the U.S. House, didn't file at all.
One of the original authors of the STOCK Act, former Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) called out his former colleagues earlier this year for their "dog ate my homework excuses" for not following the laws and the lack of consequences enforced by congressional ethics committees.
"The House Ethics Committee certainly could act and enforce consequences for these violations of federal laws, but oftentimes, they don't. Either the fees get waived, or they just pay a nominal $200 fee for not being transparent and following the law," Jacobson said.
Other Raw Story reporting this year revealed a handful of members of congressional Armed Services Committees who owned defense contractor stock, such as Sens. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL and Rep. Bill Keating (D-MA).
"It’s definitely a lot of labor, but we think it’s very important for the public to be able to know this information, and we’re happy to dig into that and share that," Jacobson said.
In October, Jacobson won first prize in the ION Awards contest for investigative journalism for her reporting on the personal finances of public officials.
Listen to the full interview: