U.S. Senator Kristen Gillibrand, along with Representative Katie Porter from California, announced that they are proposing a new bill that would require high-ranking federal officials and their families to report when they apply for federal aid.

It’s called the STOCK Act 2.0.

The original STOCK Act, which was passed with bipartisan support in 2012, requires high ranking federal officials to report any equities, bonds or stocks being bought or sold in order to prevent insider trading.

Along this same line of reasoning, Gillibrand says that this new bill would help keep high ranking federal officials accountable when they apply for federal loans.

"There’s no requirement that they report any of those payments. The worst part is the only way that anyone from members of Congress to members of the public, can learn about any of these insider dealings is from news reports," Gillibrand said.

While there is no physical proof of any federal lawmaker using their position of power to secure a federal loan during the pandemic, there were numerous reports of lawmakers receiving federal aid such as through the Paycheck Protection Program.

Moreover, most congressional lawmakers that applied for this federal money were able to receive it in the first round.  

The Treasury Department and Small Business Administration are not required by law to report who receives these loans or for how much.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has argued that this is private information and if they do release the amount, it is often just listed in the range of $150,000 to $10 million.

The STOCK Act 2.0 would apply to federal lawmakers, their family members, high-ranking staff, the President, Vice President and more.