By Hugh CameronShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberA bipartisan proposal to ban members of Congress from engaging in stock trading is gathering significant traction from both sides of the aisle ahead of a potential vote on the measure.
On Tuesday, Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna filed a discharge petition to bypass House leadership and force a vote on a congressional stock trading ban.
"Political games have already started to play out behind the scenes. I’m not waiting any longer," Luna said in a statement. "A discharge petition is the strongest tool we have to guarantee a vote on behalf of the American people and it exists for moments exactly like this."
Newsweek has contacted Representative Luna's office for further comment on the petition.
Why It Matters
Members of Congress are permitted to buy and sell stocks, provided they disclose these within 30 days of the transaction, per the 2012 Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act. However, as many lawmakers continue to post Wall Street-beating returns, support has grown for an outright ban on the practice, given the insider knowledge they may have of market-moving events, as well as the concerns this could raise among citizens regarding possible conflicts of interest. Surveys have also consistently shown overwhelming bipartisan support for banning stock trading by members of Congress.
...What To Know
The legislation under consideration is the Restore Trust in Congress Act, which would prohibit members of Congress, along with their immediate family, from buying and trading stocks.
Luna had previously threatened to file a discharge petition—a procedural tool used to force bills out of committee and onto the floor—earlier this year, pressuring House Speaker Mike Johnson to act on the proposal by the end of September. This effort was put on pause by the government shutdown, however, during which Johnson kept the House out of session.
"We have decided, because of a lack of movement from the House of Representatives, to initiate the discharge petition on banning insider trading, meaning it is live now" Luna said in a video posted to X. "Now, if leadership wants to put forward a bill that would actually do that and end the corruption, we’re all for it."
Luna’s petition will successfully force a vote if it secures 218 signatures, and there has already been a broad expression of support from members of both parties, with the original bill having amassed over 100 cosponsors as of Wednesday.
Republican Representative Tim Burchett, who is working on the legislation alongside Luna, signed the petition and reacted to Luna’s announcement on X, writing: "End congressional stock trading."
"This place is broken and it is a complete open sewer, let’s at least tell America we’re trying to do something right," Burchett said in a video taken with Luna and posted on Tuesday.
Lauren Boebert said on Tuesday that she planned to sign the petition, alongside other Republican representatives including Elise Stefanik, Eli Crane and others.
"The clock is now running. If leadership does not move quickly to put forward a strong ban on congressional stock trading, the members of the body will act," said Republican Chip Roy and Democrat Seth Magaziner, lead sponsors of the bill, in a joint statement on Tuesday.
And former members have also lent their support. On Tuesday, more than 90 past lawmakers sent a letter to Speaker Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, calling on them to bring the Restore Trust in Congress Act to a floor vote.
What People Are Saying
Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna, in a statement released Tuesday, said: "Across the country, from every political background, the American people agree on one thing: Members of Congress should not be enriching themselves with insider knowledge. Both Republican Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries have acknowledged that insider trading in Congress is a serious problem and must be stopped. On this issue, the people are more united than Washington is."
Kedric Payne, Senior Director of Ethics at Campaign Legal Center, in a statement shared with Newsweek, said: "Thanks to bipartisan momentum, lawmakers are poised to address the perennial issue of congressional stock trading and deliver a solution that Americans across the political spectrum have supported for years.
"Americans deserve elected officials who put public good over their personal financial interests. When those who craft our laws and receive information unavailable to the general public are able to buy and trade stocks that are influenced by those laws and that information, that is the very definition of a conflict of interest."
Richard Painter, a lawyer, academic and former chief White House ethics lawyer during the George W. Bush administration, told Newsweek: "This isn't a Democrat problem or Republican problem."
"I hope it passes," he said of the measure, "but I’ll believe it when I see it, because we've been trying now for the past five or six years."
What Happens Next
Reaching 218 signatures would automatically trigger the process to bring the bill to a floor vote in a matter of weeks, but lawmakers say there is still quiet opposition to banning trading by members of Congress.
"There are members in both parties who do not want this to happen, who are in the ear of leadership, who are trying to stop this from happening," said Democratic Representative Magaziner, quoted by CBS News.
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