Topline
Republican and Democratic senators introduced the “Restore Trust In Congress Act” on Thursday that would ban stock trading by lawmakers, the latest in a wave of legislation attempting to crack down on lung-running concerns over congressional ethics that have drawn bipartisan support.
Republican and Democratic senators are introducing a bipartisan bill to end stock trading in Congress.
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Key Facts
If the Senate bill— introduced by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, and Ashley Moody, R-Fla.—passes, lawmakers would have 180 days to divest their stock holdings, with newly elected members getting 90 days after they’re sworn in.
Family members of lawmakers would also be barred from stock trading, a provision aimed at preventing members from circumventing the ban by transferring assets to their spouses or dependents.
The president and vice president would be exempt from the legislation, the senators told the Associated Press, with Moody telling the news outlet “addressing members of Congress” is the top priority of her and Gillibrand’s constituents.
The senators said there are exceptions in the proposed legislation, including “widely held, diversified investment funds like mutual funds and ETFs, as well as U.S. Treasury, state, and municipal bonds.”
Crucial Quote
“The time has come. We have consensus, and there’s a drumbeat of people who want to get this done,” Gilliband told the AP.
Key Background
Insider trading by elected officials has been a bipartisan issue for years, and Gillibrand and Moody’s bill is among several pieces of legislation that has hit the Senate or House floors. The Restore Trust In Congress Act, introduced in September by Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., would “prohibit members of Congress and their spouses and dependants from owning or trading stocks” and has 125 cosponsors. A similar Senate bill—The Honest Act led by Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Gary Peters, D-Mich.—has been backed by Rep. Nancy Pelosi and advanced from committee in July. Hawley and Gillibrand previously introduced a bill to ban stock trading in Congress, but it did not advance.
Chief Critic
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., believes forcing potential lawmakers to sell their stocks could discourage people with political aspirations from serving in Congress, telling reporters in December, “You don’t want another deterrence for good people running for office.”
Big Number
86%. That’s the percentage of Americans polled in 2023 by the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy who said they were in favor of prohibiting members of Congress from stock trading, with 87% supporting a ban toward the president, vice president and Supreme Court justices.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikestunson/2026/01/15/senators-introduce-restore-trust-in-congress-act-that-would-ban-stock-trading-in-congress/
