US House Republicans advance bill to curtail lawmaker stock trades as Democrats seek tougher controls

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON, Jan 14 (Reuters) – Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday advanced legislation placing new restrictions on lawmakers’ stock-trading practices, after they squashed Democrats’ push for an outright ban on the widespread practice that critics say takes advantage of insider information.

The “Stop Insider Trading Act” was unveiled by House Republicans two days ago and drew immediate attacks from Democrats who said it fails to live up to its name.

The House Administration Committee in a partisan 7-4 vote approved the measure. Chairman Bryan Steil of Wisconsin predicted it would pass the House, but its fate is uncertain in the Senate.

The Republican bill would ban members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from purchasing stocks of a publicly traded company. Any stock sales would have to be made public beforehand. 

Steil said his bill would improve public trust in Congress at a time when the favorability rating for the House sits at 33%, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

According to a December study by Common Cause, in 2025 members of Congress executed 13,324 trades totaling $635.6 million.

“You want to trade stocks? go to Wall Street,” Steil said.

Democratic Representative Joe Morelle of New York said Steil’s bill was inadequate because it would allow lawmakers to keep stocks they already hold, let them use dividends to buy more shares and allow spouses or children to trade on their behalf.

“This is a loophole so big you could fly a Qatari jet through it,” Morelle said, referring to the Qatari government’s gift of a luxury jet last year.

Steil’s bill does not go as far as a bipartisan proposal that would force lawmakers to divest their holdings of individual stocks, which drew widespread support but was blocked by  Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson. Advocates of a ban say lawmakers who are privy to insider information about companies should not be allowed to profit off of that knowledge.

Morelle and other Democrats on the committee argued that the president, vice president and Supreme Court justices should also face limits on stock trading.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan; additional reporting by Jason Lange; editing by Andy Sullivan and Chizu Nomiyama )