Congressional Ethics and Stock Trading

Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D‑N.Y., and Ashley Moody, R‑Fla., are introducing a bipartisan bill that would ban members of Congress and their immediate family members from owning or trading individual stocks and certain other financial assets, building on a House proposal from Reps. Chip Roy and Seth Magaziner. The legislation, to be filed Thursday, would give sitting lawmakers 180 days after the law takes effect to divest covered holdings and grant newly sworn members 90 days, while prohibiting trades in securities, commodities and futures going forward. Their measure competes with a weaker House Republican leadership bill that would bar new stock purchases by members and spouses but allow them to keep existing portfolios, a plan reform advocates and some lawmakers are already calling watered‑down. The push comes amid years of insider‑trading allegations, criminal probes and polling that shows broad public support for tighter rules, even as leadership in both chambers has repeatedly failed to agree on a single approach. The proliferation of rival bills, including a discharge‑petition effort by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna to force a floor vote on a tougher House ban, will determine whether Congress finally curbs its own ability to personally profit from nonpublic information or once again runs out the clock.