Revamped congressional stock ban draws even larger House coalition

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(The Center Square) - Republican Pennsylvania U.S. Reps. Scott Perry and Brian Fitzpatrick joined an unlikely group of allies to introduce legislation in the House this week.

The “Restore Trust in Congress Act” would prohibit federal legislators from owning and trading individual stock, saying investments can cloud motivations and see elected officials profiting off of their positions.

The act brings together previously introduced legislation, including the “Restoring Faith in Government Act” put forward by Fitzpatrick earlier this year. The new bill reunites Fitzpatrick with a bipartisan group including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic Socialist known for her fiery progressivism and Perry, known for his conservatism and close ties to President Donald Trump.

In a press conference supporting the bill, Perry highlighted the political diversity of the group sponsoring the legislation.

“A lot of the country, there’s a lack of trust in the government, and this is an opportunity to earn some of that trust back,” said Perry. “Up here you have the left and the right standing on the stage for the same issue.”

According to Fitzpatrick, 97 members traded stocks tied to industries their committees oversee between 2019 and 2021. Unusual Whales, a trading news site, found through analysis of public documents that “a quarter of Congress actively traded up to $788M in various assets through 12,700+ transactions in 2022.”

The legislation would ban Congress and their immediate family members from making individual investments while allowing them to maintain mutual funds and other widely held investment funds, as well as precious metals and U.S. Treasury and state bonds.

Current members of Congress would have 180 days to divest, while incoming members would have 90. In the event that a person inherits stock, they’d be required to divest within 90 days. The supervising ethics office would be empowered to levy a fine worth 10% of the assets plus the surrender of profits, all to be paid with personal funds.

“This issue has brought so many of us across the political spectrum together because we are united by the value that people should feel that their elected representative puts them and their interests first and that we are here first and foremost to do the job that the public has sent us to do,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “Because of the support of the American people on this issue, we have generated the momentum necessary to be able to introduce the bipartisan Restore Trust in Congress Act.”

The group now waits to see if House leadership will bring it to a vote. In May, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said that he would support a bill banning stock trading. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, has also expressed support for a ban.

U.S. Senators Gary Peters, D-MI, and Josh Hawley, R-MO, are shepherding a similar bill through the upper chamber. Theirs adds the president and vice president to the list of those who would be prohibited from trading, though it would require them to divest beginning in their next term, excluding President Trump from being impacted.

“A bipartisan coalition of this magnitude sends a clear message to the American people: we hear you, and we’re taking action to ensure no Member of Congress uses public office for personal gain once and for all,” said Fitzpatrick. “If you’re in Congress, you serve the public interest—not your portfolio.”