Congressional stock trading ban bill to get vote: Republicans

Republican leaders in the House of Representatives agreed Thursday to vote in the new year on legislation that would ban members of Congress from owning or trading individual stocks.

But the proposal likely won’t include a provision that would ban stock trading or ownership by President Donald Trump or future presidents.

House Majority Leader Steve ScaliseR-La., R-La., said members have been working for months on a bill that would pass committee and be voted on in the chamber.

“We want to get this done,” Scalise said.

He did not say whether the legislation would extend to the executive branch, a sticking point for Democrats who want to prioritize it.

Others said it probably wouldn’t happen.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. “This will only be directed at Congress,” he said as he left the meeting with other Republicans who, like him, wanted a trade ban.

“We will have a vote on the floor sometime in January … no more insider trading,” said Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla. he said.

The leadership’s commitment came a day after House Democrats introduced their own proposal that would ban lawmakers, as well as presidents and vice presidents, from owning or trading individual stocks.

The Democrats’ maneuver risks derailing what has been a largely bipartisan effort to date.

Rep. Seth Magaziner, D.R.I. that invoice (DY), backed by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, said Democrats will file a habeas corpus petition to force a vote on the bill in the new year.

A discharge petition is a procedural tool that allows rank-and-file members to bypass leadership and force a vote if a majority of House members sign on. The tactic was rarely used before this year.

“There is absolutely no justification for the president, who has far more power than any member of Congress or the vice president, to be able to trade stocks in real time while having more access to insider information than perhaps the entire U.S. Congress combined,” Jeffries said at a news conference Thursday.

Luna recently filed his own case with the support of a bipartisan group of lawmakers. eviction petition on a separate offer regarding the purchase and sale of shares.

The bill that is the subject of this petition, filed by Magaziner and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, would not involve the executive branch.

Seventy-four members had signed Luna’s release petition as of Thursday.

It is already illegal for members of Congress and the president to trade inside information.

However law It is rarely enforced, and the perception persists that MPs profit from information gleaned from their positions in government.

The issue began to gain more attention in 2020, when a group of lawmakers took a series of actions at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

At that time, no member of Congress was charged for his business activities.

Earlier this year, Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. More questions were raised after some lawmakers, including Trump, bought shares just before Trump announced he would pause tariffs.

Trump has Supported banning members of Congress trading individual stocks.

But the president lashed out at Sen. Josh Hawley over the summer for the Missouri Republican’s suggestion that such a ban include the president.

Following this criticism, Hawley’s bill was amended by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to say that the trade ban would apply only to future presidents, not Trump.

The committee introduced this bill with bipartisan support in July. The full Senate has not yet voted on the issue.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

House Speaker Johnson recently saw three eviction petitions succeed and force their objections to a vote.

This week, House members obtained enough signatures for a petition that would force a vote on extending enhanced Obamacare subsidies. This vote has not been taken yet.

And recently, they forced a floor vote requiring the Justice Department to release files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. These files are expected to be released on Friday.

Luna said he would not give up the expulsion petition even if Johnson allowed the ban bill to be voted on.

Magaziner encourages his members to sign both petitions.

“I will sign both petitions for expulsion and hope one of them will cross the threshold and take the stand,” Magaziner said.