This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
For years, lawmakers have been crafting bills to ban stock trading by members of Congress. House Republicans are bringing one of those bills to the floor, but in a political move they have paired it with a voter ID bill that will likely limit Democratic support for the package.
The House is expected to vote on the Stop Insider Trading Act, which limits stock trading, as early as Wednesday. It has 93 co-sponsors, including two Democrats and Colorado Republican Reps. Jeff Hurd, Jeff Crank and Gabe Evans.
“Public confidence and trust in Congress is at a near all-time low, and this is an important way for members of Congress to show that we’re not using information to benefit ourselves personally,” Hurd said.
Under the bill, members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children may not buy publicly traded stocks while in office, but would be able to keep the individual stocks they currently have and would be required to give public notice before they decide to sell any stocks.
Hurd admitted the bill is not perfect, but “we can’t make the perfect the enemy of the good.”
The GOP-led effort falls short of a different measure that a bipartisan group of lawmakers have been working on for years.
“There’s a clear way to go about banning members of Congress from trading stocks, and that’s by passing a bill that bans a member of Congress from trading stocks,” said Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse.
Neguse is part of that bipartisan group pushing for the Restore Trust in Congress Act, which has 141 co-sponsors, including GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert and 34 other Republicans. The Democratic co-sponsors include Reps. Jason Crow, Brittany Pettersen and Diana DeGette.
It would prohibit members of Congress and their families from buying and selling stocks.
The Restore Trust in Congress Act would also require members to divest their stocks within 180 days of the bill’s enactment.
According to 2024 financial disclosures, no Colorado U.S. House member holds publicly traded stocks. Most hold mutual funds and individual retirement accounts.
“People should not come here and get wealthy doing this job,” said Crow. “This is public service, you’re supposed to be serving your constituents, serving the country. You should not be getting wealthier doing this job.”
Crow said he will not support the bill that is being voted on today because it does not ban stock trading.
Boebert said she’s in favor of any bill banning stock trading coming to the floor. “I’m fine with all of them. Anyone can find things wrong with parts of one.”
Neguse said what will hit the floor is a “debased” version of a stock trading ban that also includes “massive loopholes for members of Congress to still sell stocks at a profit.”
Republican leaders link voter ID to bill
The Stop Insider Trading Act is also not likely to get much Democratic support because Republican leaders added an unrelated matter to the bill — a requirement for voter ID when casting a ballot.
The issue has become a poison bill for Democrats, who view this and other elements of what’s called the SAVE America Act, as a voter suppression bill. They argue there are already guardrails in place to protect elections and that the ID requirements can lead to lower turnout because not everyone has the required ID.
Evans, however, said a vast majority of Americans support showing ID to vote and it’s fine to include it in a stock trading ban bill. “It’s two basic fundamental things: members of Congress shouldn’t trade stocks based on insider information and integrity around our voter system.”
Crow called combining the two measures a ploy. “Let’s put aside the fact that this [bill] actually doesn’t do what it says it does, and on top of that they add a voter suppression component to it. I mean the whole thing is a cynical ploy and I’m not going to be a part of it.”
At a press conference on Tuesday, Speaker Johnson said that combining the stock trade ban with the voter ID bill makes sense. “Everybody’s very hard pressed to vote against that. I don’t think any Republicans will, I think a lot of Democrats will. It will be a vote that you should closely watch and then everybody’s constituents should take heed to.”
The vote will likely be used on the campaign trail as the November election draws closer.
Neguse called it a political move, to force Democrats, “into voting against it and use that in attack ads. It’s nothing more complicated than that.”
Still, it will also likely complicate any effort to get a stock trading ban through this Congress.
