A group of U.S. lawmakers — including the unlikely pairing of GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, (D-NY), normally at opposite ends of the political spectrum — is pushing for a stock trading ban to be passed in a bill dubbed the Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act (opens in new tab), or the less catchy H.R. 3003 bill.
By passing the bill that would prevent members of Congress, their spouses and dependents from owning or trading stocks while in office, the group hopes to restore public faith in U.S. lawmakers. Or as Gaetz puts it, “We cannot allow the Swamp to prioritize investing in stocks over investing in our country.”
Members of Congress who already hold stocks would be required to “divest any stocks they currently own within 90 days or put them in a ‘qualified blind trust,’” which must be approved by House ethics officials,” MarketWatch (opens in new tab) explains. Currently, the 2012 STOCK Act (opens in new tab) allows members of Congress to trade stocks as long as they ensure transactions are disclosed and don’t trade using insider knowledge.
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This isn’t the first time a bill of this nature has been proposed, and Gaetz and Ocasio-Cortez have even teamed up on this subject before, in 2021, on a bill that — like so many others — failed to get to a floor vote. However, this issue has faced increasing scrutiny as concerns over a number of events with potential conflicts of interest and insider trading issues have sparked calls for reform. Notable incidents include several lawmakers who were found to have traded shares following confidential briefings at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic; Paul Pelosi, the husband of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (then Speaker of the House), who sold $4 million worth of Nvidia (NVDA (opens in new tab)) shares in 2022 just ahead of a House vote on chip manufacturing; and members of Congress who sold bank stocks during the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse.
“When Members have access to classified information, we should not be trading in the stock market on it,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “It’s really that simple.”
The bill would still allow members of Congress and their families to invest in widely held investment funds and Treasury bonds and in the retirement plan for federal employees (FERS (opens in new tab)).
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) said in a statement (opens in new tab): “The fact that Members of the Progressive Caucus, the Freedom Caucus, and the Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, reflecting the entirety of the political spectrum, can find common ground on key issues like this should send a powerful message to America.”