Congressional lawmakers from both sides of the aisle disclosed $1 billion worth of financial transactions in 2023, a report by Unusual Whales found Tuesday, an estimate based on the maximum disclosed amounts.
The staggering volume raises concerns that many members of Congress trade stocks based on information unavailable to the public.
Members of Congress traded fewer stocks than last year due to House members selling stocks more than buying them, the report found.
Both Democrats and Republicans still beat the market. Democrats even topped the S&P 500, the report set out.
Beating the S&P is very difficult for stock traders due to the challenge of regularly identifying stocks that will gain more than the S&P.
- Democrats beat the index by 7 points (31 percent up).
- Republicans fell short by 6 points but were 18 percent up.
“Democrats came out on top significantly, due to their heavy tech portfolios. Republicans only returned around 18%, which is still great,” the report found. “They underperformed as an aggregate because their portfolios are mainly in financials, oil, and commodities, which had a difficult year due to the banking collapses and high rate hikes.”
Some of the most notable members to beat the market are well known defenders of the establishment:
- Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) — up 38.2 percent
- Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) — up 65.5 percent
- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) — up 18.1 percent
- Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) — up 52.8 percent
- Rep. John Curtis (R-UT) — up 25.3 percent
Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) from the Buffalo area was the top trader in Congress last year. First elected in 2005, he sits on the Budget and Ways and Means Committees:
- Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) — up 238.9 percent
More information on congressional stock trading from 2022 is here.
Follow Wendell Husebø on “X” @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.