Senators launched a cross-party effort to end stock trading by lawmakers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two senators from opposing parties are joining forces in a renewed effort to block members of Congress from trading stocks, an effort that has broad public support but has repeatedly stalled on Capitol Hill.

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Republican Sen. Ashley Moody of Florida plan on Thursday to introduce legislation, first shared with The Associated Press, that would bar lawmakers and their immediate family members from trading or owning individual stocks.

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It’s the latest in a series of proposals in the House and Senate to limit stock trading in Congress, giving the issue bipartisan momentum. But the sheer number of proposals has clouded the path forward. House Republican leaders are pushing their own bill on stock ownership, an alternative that critics have dismissed as watered-down.

“There is an American consensus on this, not a partisan consensus, that members of Congress and, frankly, senior members of administrations and the White House, should not be making money at the expense of the American people,” Gillibrand said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Bipartisan support but no consensus

Stock trading by members of Congress has been the subject of ethics scrutiny and criminal investigations in recent years, with lawmakers accused of using information they gain as part of their jobs — often unknown to the public — to buy and sell stocks at large profits. Both parties pledged to halt stock trading in Washington in campaign ads, creating unusual coalitions in Congress.

In the House, for example, Republican Rep. Ana Paulina Luna of Florida is trying to bypass party leadership and force a vote on her stock trading bill. Her impeachment campaign has received 79 signatures out of the required 218 signatures, the majority of them from Democrats.

House Republican leaders support an alternative bill that would ban members of Congress and their spouses from buying individual stocks, but would not require lawmakers to dispose of stocks they already own. It would require public notice seven days before the regulator sells shares. The draft law was presented to the committee on Wednesday, but its prospects are unclear.

Meanwhile, Gillibrand and Moody are presenting a version of a House bill introduced last year by Reps. Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, and Seth Magaziner, a Democrat from Rhode Island. The proposal, sponsored by 125 co-sponsors, would prevent members of Congress from buying or selling individual stocks altogether.

Magaziner and other House Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, wrote in a joint statement on Wednesday that they are “disappointed that the bill introduced today by Republican leadership fails to achieve needed reform.”

The Senate bill from Gillibrand and Modi would give lawmakers 180 days to liquidate their individual stock holdings after the bill takes effect, while newly elected members would have 90 days from being sworn in to divest. Lawmakers will be prohibited from trading and owning certain other financial assets, including securities, commodities and futures.

“The American people must be able to trust that their elected officials are focused on outcomes for the American people and not focused on taking advantage of their positions,” Moody wrote in response to a list of questions posed by the AP.

The president will be exempt

The legislation would exempt the president and vice president, something that is likely to draw criticism from some Democrats. Similar objections were raised last year regarding a bill that would prevent members of Congress from issuing certain cryptocurrencies, but it did not apply to the president.

Gillibrand said the president “should be held to the same standards” but called the legislation “a good place to start.”

“I don’t think we should allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good,” Gillibrand said. “There is a lot I would like to add in this bill, but this is a bipartisan consensus and a bipartisan consensus in Congress.”

Congress has “the constitutional power of the purse” so it is important that its members have “no other interests, financial or otherwise,” Moody wrote in response to written questions.

“Addressing members of Congress is the number one priority our constituents care about,” she wrote.

Making law or material for the election campaign?

It remains to be seen whether the bill will reach a vote in the Senate. A similar bill introduced by Gillibrand and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri in 2023 never made it out of committee.

However, this issue is of great importance on the campaign trail. Moody is seeking election to her first full term in Florida this year after being appointed to her seat when Marco Rubio became Secretary of State. Gillibrand heads the Democrats’ Senate campaign arm.

“It’s about time,” Gillibrand said. “We have a consensus, and there is a drumbeat of people who want to get this done.”