During remarks on the House floor prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) spoke in support of a ban on Congressional stock trading.
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00:00to each of them and I want to thank them for their leadership. I now recognize the gentleman
00:04from Florida who I know has also been a champion of this issue for some time now, Mr. Mills,
00:11for two minutes. Thank you so much, Speaker. I appreciate the opportunity. You know, I don't
00:19need a written speech or a prepared document to say how common sense this is. For far too long,
00:27people have basically turned politics into a career which was never its intent. It was meant
00:33to serve we the people and there is something that is mutually exclusive. You cannot serve yourself
00:38in personal enrichment and serve the public at the same time. We know for a fact that even within
00:44the National Defense Authorization Act that you can get language put in provided to you by companies
00:52that allow for certain amounts of money to be sole sourced or in some ways appropriated to
00:57defense companies that they can then turn around and invest in. How is that not insider trading
01:03when it's public knowledge on what's out there but not public knowledge on what's being put
01:08into the NDAA during the markups? Insider trading must stop and I can tell you that banning stock
01:14trading for members of Congress and their spouse should not be something that is in question.
01:21We must rebuild the actual image of Congress. We must rebuild the image of federal government
01:27government where we are actually here to truly serve the people. I think this is a paramount step
01:32in us making sure with friends and colleagues like Representative Magaziner to be able to move forward and
01:39rebuild the trust, the hope, and rebuild this institution to be what it once was. Our founding fathers and many of
01:47them were in the private sector and very successful businessmen. They served in an effort to try and get back to
01:53their businesses because they actually made more money there. But it's changed where people are making
01:57more money while in Congress while stock trading than they can in the private sector. The same way that
02:03Plan B for failed male athletes shouldn't be women's sports, Plan B for failed entrepreneurs shouldn't be
02:09Congress in stock trading. So I support this bill and I ask everyone to move forward in guaranteeing that we rebuild the
02:16confidence in government and we restore what it is to serve we the people. With that, I yield back.
02:22Thank you to the gentleman. I now yield to a man I admire.