House votes to limit stock trading by members of Congress, elevating a
campaign issue
[July 23, 2026]
By JOEY CAPPELLETTI
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House approved legislation Wednesday that would
bar members of Congress from purchasing individual stocks, advancing an
ethics proposal that lawmakers in both parties have long championed but
repeatedly failed to enact.
Some Democrats sided with the Republican majority in the 232-198 vote
that came as lawmakers prepared to return home and campaign ahead of the
midterm elections, with Republicans working to show action on an issue
that has become a symbol of voter distrust.
But the breakthrough was tempered by Republican provisions in the bill
that would exempt the president from the trading ban and from the
inclusion of an unrelated voter identification requirement, drawing
opposition from many Democrats. The bill's passage in the Senate remains
uncertain.
“This bill, quite simply, is a sham,” Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York
Democrat, said on the House floor ahead of the vote. He called the voter
identification provision a “poison pill” designed to sink the
legislation.
Supporters nevertheless hailed the bill, known as the Stop Insider
Trading Act, as the most significant congressional action yet to
restrict stock trades by members of Congress.
“I had legislation that would have required divestiture. I preferred
that approach,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said. “But you got to build a
coalition in a body. And I think this is a giant step forward.”
Rep. Bryan Steil, the Wisconsin Republican who sponsored the
legislation, called it “transformational.”
Critics argued the legislation falls well short of a true stock trading
ban because it would let lawmakers keep stocks they already own and
continue selling them.
Bipartisan support eroded further after Republicans added a requirement
that voters present photo identification at the polls, a key element of
the SAVE Act, an election measure backed by President Donald Trump that
has repeatedly stalled in the Senate.
What is in the Stop Insider Trading Act?
The legislation would prohibit lawmakers, their spouses and dependent
children from buying individual stocks while in office. It would let
them keep stocks they already own but require public notice at least
seven days before selling them. Some investments would be exempt,
including interest in a widely held investment fund and certain
investments held in a trust.
The bill does not extend to the president or vice president. President
Donald Trump disclosed in May that in the first quarter of this year he
had made more than 3,600 buy and sell orders, many of them involving
companies whose profits have been directly impacted by his decisions as
head of the government.
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and GOP leaders meet with
reporters as he tries to advance a spending package for the Iran
war, farm aid and President Donald Trump's push for strict new voter
ID requirements, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 21,
2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Outside ethics groups said the bill leaves intact the very conflicts
it is meant to address by allowing lawmakers to keep existing stock
holdings.
The Campaign Legal Center urged Congress to reject the measure,
saying it “fails to address the two inherent problems with
congressional stock ownership: the appearance of insider trading and
members’ ability to profit from their official position.”
Not all Republicans were on board for the stock ban. Kentucky Rep.
Thomas Massie, who was defeated in a primary earlier this year by a
Trump-backed candidate, derided Republicans for inserting the voter
identification requirement.
“Republicans added voter-ID in the legislation. Not to get Dems to
vote for voter-ID,” Massie wrote in a social media post. “but to get
them to vote against the stock trading ban, so they can use it in
the Nov. election.”
Stock trading has become a potent campaign issue
Congressional stock trading has become a potent campaign issue as
candidates from both parties call for banning the practice. The
issue has been a fixture of campaign ads for several years as
candidates seek to tap into voters’ distrust of Washington.
Ahead of Wednesday's vote, many Republicans facing tough reelection
races lined up to speak in favor of it.
“Banning congressional stock trading is a simple proposition: If you
serve the public, you serve only the public,” said New York Rep.
Mike Lawler. “You don't get to benefit from the power the people
have loaned you. This reform is about fairness.”
Lawmakers have faced ethics scrutiny and, in some cases, criminal
investigations over stock trades that critics say benefited from
nonpublic information obtained through lawmakers' official duties.
Although no broad ban has become law, similar proposals have been
introduced for years.
Momentum accelerated last year when Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla.,
launched a discharge petition to force a vote on a congressional
stock trading ban that bypassed House Republican leaders.
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