Greg: Currently, lawmakers can freely invest in weapons contractors like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and more.
Some of the lawmakers trading those stocks? They're the same ones signing off on $800 BILLION Pentagon budgets. And every year, about HALF of that astronomical amount flows directly to (surprise!) weapons contractors like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and more.
We call that corruption — and when you’re talking about weapons and war the consequences are deadly.
That’s why what’s happening now is so important. A bipartisan group of senators has set the stage to dismantle this broken status quo with the “Ending Trading and Holdings In Congressional Stocks” or ETHICS Act (S. 1171).
This groundbreaking bill would end the war profiteering by banning congressional stock trading altogether — and just days ago, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs pushed this urgently needed legislation past a crucial hurdle.
Now, the stage is set for the ETHICS Act to go to the Senate floor, and when that happens, we need to make sure it passes with the resounding majority it deserves. Greg, your senators' support is a crucial piece of the puzzle — and that’s why we need you to speak out today.
Being a member of Congress has many perks, Greg, and padding your stock portfolio shouldn’t be one of them. But right now, taxpayer money can be distributed to weapons makers by the same members of Congress profiting off their investments in the weapons industry.
That’s legislators like Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), who makes the life-or-death policy decisions that fuel Pentagon spending and more as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Last September, he bought as much as fifty thousand dollars worth of Raytheon stock. You won’t be surprised to hear that, in the face of escalating global tensions, Sen. Mullin’s investment in war has made money hand over fist. By the end of May, he was up 33 percent.
The ETHICS Act would close the door to this self-dealing by prohibiting members of Congress, the president, and the vice president from buying and selling stocks and other securities, commodities, or futures.
We deserve to trust that decisions over war and peace are not made based on personal financial gain — and the ETHICS Act is our chance to sever the tie between personal profit and public policy.
Not many are willing to go up against the enormous influence of mega weapons corporations and their lobbyists, but that’s what Win Without War — with the help of tens of thousands of activists across the country — is doing every day.
Together, we’ll push for a government that serves the people and can move us closer toward the more peaceful world we all want and deserve.
Thank you for working for peace,
The Win Without War team