This congressional odd couple swears a lawmaker stock-trading ban is coming

For years on Capitol Hill, bipartisan odd couples have tried and failed to do something against their own financial self-interest: enact a stock trading ban for members of Congress.

The latest unlikely duo — Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Seth Magaziner, D-R.I. — thinks a ban might finally be coming.

Roy, a fiery conservative, and Magaziner, a mild-mannered progressive, are teaming up to prohibit lawmakers from owning or trading stocks — an idea with immense public support that has repeatedly stalled in Congress.

“It’s the overwhelming No. 1 applause line of anything that I usually put out there,” Roy told MS NOW in an interview. “And that’s to red meat crowds, or to bipartisan groups of people that I’m speaking to. There’s a universal agreement that people want to be able to regain trust in Congress. And, look, to me, it starts with ensuring that no one has the appearance of self-dealing.”

Momentum is building — bipartisan momentum. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t still obstacles. It’s just that the people who are trying to stop us are not so vocal, because they know that the American people are on our side.”

Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I.

Roy’s and Magaziner’s bill, the “Restore Trust In Congress Act,” would prohibit members, spouses and dependents from owning or trading individual stocks, securities, commodities, futures or other similar assets. Current holdings would also have to be divested or put into a qualified blind trust. 

Current law subjects lawmakers to normal insider trading rules, but under the 2012 Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, members are also required to report their stock transactions within 45 days of a trade. Still, plenty of lawmakers think a disclosure is hardly enough.

Previous efforts to prohibit members from trading have failed for a variety of reasons. In 2022, the unusual bipartisan pairing of Roy and then-Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., couldn’t get a stock-trading ban over the line, in part because of competing legislation and disagreements over the best path forward. 

But this time around, proponents are cautiously optimistic they’ve learned the right lessons.

“Momentum is building — bipartisan momentum,” Magaziner told MS NOW in an interview, noting that the new legislation has more than 100 cosponsors. “That doesn’t mean that there aren’t still obstacles. It’s just that the people who are trying to stop us are not so vocal, because they know that the American people are on our side.”

One big reason lawmakers say this time is different? Top leaders from both sides of the aisle are supportive of the effort. 

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., whose blessing will be needed to stage a vote through regular order, said in May he favors banning members from trading stocks “because I don’t think we should have any appearance of impropriety here.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., backed the effort in April. “We do need to change the law so that sitting members of Congress cannot trade stock. Period. Full stop,” Jeffries said.

Voters are also behind the idea. A poll conducted by the Program for Public Consultation at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy in 2023 found that 86% of registered voters — including 87% of Republicans and 88% of Democrats — are in favor of prohibiting members of Congress and their families from trading stocks.

But public support doesn’t always translate to action.

Pressed on a timeline for their effort, Roy and Magaziner said they are hoping to get a vote on their legislation by the end of the year.

“That’s our goal and that’s our intent,” Roy said. “Every step you move forward, then we’re gonna be in a good spot, because regular order matters. But we want to see a vote.”

Roy said he expects more meetings on the issue once Congress returns to Washington after the Thanksgiving recess, following last week’s House Administration Committee hearing on efforts to ban lawmaker stock trading.

“I wouldn’t wanna be a member heading into election season not supporting this bill,” Magaziner said.

While stock-trading bans have been popular among members, what matters most is the support of the speaker. 

In early 2022, when Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was the speaker, there was major momentum for a stock-trading ban. Pelosi toyed with the legislation, eventually sounding supportive, but she never actually endorsed a ban. The effort fizzled when she never brought legislation to the floor — just as it has multiple times before and since.

This time, Magaziner is realistic about what Johnson’s endorsement means and doesn’t mean.

“The largest obstacle to getting this done is that Speaker Johnson needs to decide what he’s going to do, right?” Magaziner said.

Although Johnson has expressed support for some sort of new restriction, he’s also spoken about the financial difficulties of lawmakers paying for two residences on a $174,000 salary that’s been frozen since 2009 — a roughly 30% decrease in pay when adjusted for inflation.

“If you stay on this trajectory, you’re going to have less qualified people who are willing to make the extreme sacrifice to run for Congress,” Johnson told reporters in May. 

The speaker added that he has “some sympathy” for the argument that members should be able to trade stocks “so that they can continue to, you know, take care of their family.”

But if Johnson and GOP leadership don’t cooperate with a vote on a stock-trading ban, lawmakers are already thinking about plan B: a discharge petition.

The discharge petition has become the preferred vehicle of circumventing a speaker stonewall this Congress, with lawmakers successfully reaching the 218 threshold on two pieces of legislation in recent weeks: the Epstein Files Transparency Act and the Protect America’s Workforce Act. 

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., has said she would start a discharge petition for a stock-trading ban bill if needed, and lawmakers think they have the votes.

“I believe there’s an overwhelming majority of members of Congress who recognize the need to deal with this issue, that it polls at 90%,” Roy said. “I don’t think it’s even close, once you start getting it down to the floor and get a vote.” 

While Roy skirted a question about his ability to get 218 signatures on a discharge petition, there’s certainly some opposition to the legislation, particularly if a lawmaker’s family can’t trade individual stock — what would a member’s stock broker partner do? — and if lawmakers don’t have to go on the record about the bill.

There’s also the question of the Senate.

In July, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee advanced legislation to ban lawmakers from trading stocks, but action on these sorts of measures has historically been even more challenging in the upper chamber than in the House.

Meanwhile, congressional stock controversies are fueling the push.

In May, Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa., sold up to $130,000 worth of holdings in health companies heavily involved in Medicaid, according to NBC News, shortly before the House voted on the GOP’s reconciliation bill, which included substantial cuts to Medicaid.

Bresnahan told NBC News in a statement that he “never instructed my financial advisors on what to buy, sell, or hold.”

“It is no secret that I built a successful career before serving, and I am beholden to no lobbyist or special interest,” said Bresnahan, who has introduced his own legislation to ban lawmakers from trading stocks.

But there are plenty of other examples of lawmakers engaging in insider trading. 

In 2020, former Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., was sentenced to 26 months in prison for insider trading and lying to federal investigators. Trump later pardoned Collins, who was the first member of Congress to endorse Trump for president during the 2016 campaign.

There was also former Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., who sold $1.65 million in stock in February 2020 after receiving a classified briefing on Covid-19. An investigation into Burr was ultimately closed without charges.

And then there are the rumors of impropriety that have dogged Pelosi and some other lawmakers. Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was a famed stock trader and businessman in his own right.

Even if lawmakers and their spouses aren’t doing anything wrong, the public perceives a problem — and that’s enough for a lot of members to want new restrictions.

“How can we make decisions on all of those when we’re day trading these stocks?” Roy asked. “I think that, the American people go, yeah, we agree.”