The Stock Act has certainly curtailed many abuses as well as some of the financial windfalls federal legislators once enjoyed. Studies indicate that outsized gains from politicians' stock holdings decreased after that bill was enacted. But there's still much to be done.

A recent Business Insider examination of about 9,000 financial disclosure forms filed by every sitting federal lawmaker and their senior staff members found that only four members of the House and six from the Senate were trading using qualified blind trusts, which distance politicians from investment decisions. The analysis also found that dozens of federal legislators were violating conflict-of-interest provisions of the Stock Act, while others had indulged in activities that created "clashes between their personal finances and public duties."

Business Insider highlighted Representative Kevin Hern, an Oklahoma Republican, as a member of a group of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle who are especially exposed to ethical problems. I wrote about Hern's financial conflicts in 2020 after learning that the legislator helped ensure that Covid-19 relief money funded by taxpayers was steered to franchise owners like his family. He doesn't appear to be worried that any of this is problematic.

Congress has company, too. The Federal Reserve has had to show the door recently to officials who played too loosely with their investments. The Wall Street Journal has produced a series of startling reports on financial conflicts tied to securities trading within the federal judiciary. And the Supreme Court remains oddly removed from stricter ethical guidelines and transparency, even though all of the justices either trade stocks, cash in on problematic book deals or accept  pricey travel packages and expensive gifts. Chief Justice John Roberts, while acknowledging that even the appearance of financial conflicts is detrimental, has said he doesn't consider it a widespread problem on the court or in the broader judiciary and doesn't necessitate outside oversight.

However oversight continues to take shape in Congress, let's hope that Ossoff's bill gets further traction and bipartisan support. He is one of the 10 members of Congress whom Business Insider cited for maintaining a proper blind trust for his investments, and the website rated him a "solid" for his transparency and ethical vigilance. Many others in Congress should follow his example.