Still Not Law
Members of Congress write the laws that move markets, then trade those markets. Both parties have proposed banning it. Here is every major bill since 2021, how far it got, and how the members who trade most voted when it finally came to the floor.
Closest call: the Stop Insider Trading Act passed the House 232–198 on July 22, 2026. It has been sitting on the Senate calendar ever since.
Every Bill, and How Far It Got
Status as of September 28, 2026. Each dot is a step toward becoming law.
Members, spouses and dependent children may not buy new individual stocks but may keep existing holdings. Sales require 7–14 days of public notice. Penalty: the greater of $2,000 or 10% of the trade, plus gains. Exempts the President. The House-passed text also includes a photo voter-ID requirement.
Passed the House 232–198 on July 22, 2026. Placed on the Senate calendar Aug 6; unanimous-consent requests to pass it were blocked. No Senate vote as of Sep 28, 2026.
Same as the Restore Trust in Congress Act, plus the President and VP.
Discharge Petition No. 14 has 192 signatures, all Democrats.
Bans members, spouses, dependent children and trustees from owning or trading stocks, commodities and futures.
143 House cosponsors. Never marked up.
The PELOSI Act, renamed. Covers members, and the President and VP after the current term; 180 days to divest.
Senate Homeland Security committee approved it 8–7 on July 30, 2025 (Hawley plus all committee Democrats). No floor vote.
Bans stock trading and ownership by members.
Vehicle for Rep. Luna's Discharge Petition No. 11, which stalled at 84 of the 218 signatures needed.
Bans members from owning or trading individual stocks.
Reintroduced as H.R.253 (2025).
Immediate purchase ban for members, the President and VP; divestment from 2027; would raise the STOCK Act late fee from $200 to $500.
Senate Homeland Security committee approved it 8–4 on July 24, 2024. Never reached the floor.
Bans members and spouses from holding or trading stocks; 180 days to sell; profits disgorged.
Restricts trading and ownership by members, senior officials and federal judges, including the Supreme Court.
A House floor vote was scheduled, then shelved before the 2022 midterms.
Bans ownership outright, not just trading. No blind-trust option.
Reintroduced as H.R.1679 (2023).
Bars members and spouses from holding or trading individual stocks.
Members and families must place stocks in a blind trust or divest.
Reintroduced as S.1879 in May 2025.
Bars members and senior staff from buying or selling individual stocks.
Members, spouses and dependent children put covered investments in a qualified blind trust.
Reintroduced as H.R.345 (2023) and H.R.396 (2025). Never received a markup.
How the Traders Voted
House roll call 280, H.R.7008 (Stop Insider Trading Act), July 22, 2026, matched against every trade those members disclosed since the 119th Congress began (Jan 3, 2025).
Party lines drove this vote more than portfolios: every Republican voted yes, and most Democrats voted no, citing a photo voter-ID requirement added to the bill and its exemption for the President. Thirteen Democrats crossed over, including 2 of the 20 most active House traders: Josh Gottheimer and Jared Moskowitz.
The 20 most active House traders, and their vote
| Member | Trades since Jan 2025 | Volume | Buys vs S&P | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ro Khanna Dem | 7,440 | $105.2M | −0.7 pts | NO |
| Michael McCaul Rep | 1,685 | $117.9M | +0.5 pts | YES |
| Gil Cisneros Dem | 1,588 | $35.9M | +0.1 pts | NO |
| Lisa McClain Rep | 1,385 | $13.0M | +1.9 pts | YES |
| Rob Bresnahan Rep | 653 | $8.5M | +0.1 pts | YES |
| Jefferson Shreve Rep | 632 | $207.9M | −0.3 pts | YES |
| Julie Johnson Dem | 586 | $4.9M | +0.2 pts | NO |
| Josh Gottheimer Dem | 504 | $26.5M | −0.5 pts | YES |
| April McClain Delaney Dem | 448 | $9.3M | −7.5 pts | NO |
| Sheri Biggs Rep | 265 | $13.3M | — | YES |
| Val Hoyle Dem | 260 | $2.3M | −2.3 pts | NO |
| Tim Moore Rep | 236 | $14.9M | +2.9 pts | YES |
| Cleo Fields Dem | 233 | $22.8M | +3.4 pts | NO |
| David Taylor Rep | 226 | $2.0M | +1.8 pts | YES |
| Bruce Westerman Rep | 213 | $1.9M | +1.2 pts | YES |
| Kevin Hern Rep | 193 | $25.3M | +5.8 pts | YES |
| Jared Moskowitz Dem | 191 | $1.8M | +1.5 pts | YES |
| Scott Peters Dem | 185 | $47.2M | — | NO |
| Byron Donalds Rep | 165 | $1.4M | +2.0 pts | YES |
| Julia Letlow Rep | 159 | $1.3M | −1.9 pts | YES |
Vote record: Office of the Clerk, U.S. House. "Buys vs S&P" is each member's dollar-weighted 90-day edge (methodology); blank where fewer than 10 buys have been scored.
What Breaking Today's Rules Costs: $200
The STOCK Act requires trades to be disclosed within 45 days. File more than 30 days after that, and the fee is $200 per report, which ethics offices can waive.
That's roughly 1 dollar of penalty for every $12,245 traded in those fee-eligible filings — if every fee were collected and none were waived. The longest disclosure delay on record here is 880 days. See the late filers →
Late reports are estimated as distinct member + filing-date pairs. Fee rules: 5 U.S.C. §13106(d); 5 CFR 2634.704. The 2024 ETHICS Act would have raised the fee to $500; it never passed.
Why Track This
Members of Congress receive classified briefings, write industry regulations, and steer federal contracts. Nobody has to prove a trade used inside information for the arrangement to erode trust — it's the appearance, and the opportunity, that ban proposals from both parties target. Until one passes, disclosure is the only check, which is why every trade on this site links back to its public filing.
See the trades behind the debate: who beat the market and the receipts.