Stock Trading Restriction Bill Passed by House Despite Democrats’ Objections Over Exemption for Trump, Other Administration Officials

The House has passed the first bill in years aimed at restricting lawmakers’ ability to trade individual stocks despite objections from Democrats who took issue with the fact that executive branch officials were made exempt from the restrictions. The Senate is unlikely to take up the bill due to more comprehensive packages currently being considered in the upper chamber.If made law, the Stop Insider Trading Act would be the most significant crackdown on Capitol Hill stock trading in a generation. The bill would restrict lawmakers, their spouses, and their children claimed as dependents from buying publicly traded securities. Those individuals covered by the bill would have to notify the House at least seven days in advance of any potential sale of stakes in either publicly traded or privately held companies. Lawmakers would not be forced to divest from current assets under the House bill, though the Senate is currently considering such a divestiture measure. Under the proposed legislation, if a lawmaker were to violate the would-be law, then he or she would face a $2,000 fine or a forfeiture of ten percent of the value of the transaction — whichever one happens to be greater.The bill passed the House by a relatively narrow margin despite broad bipartisan support for a blanket stock trading ban on Capitol Hill. The legislation made its way through the House by a vote of 232 to 198, with 13 Democrats siding with Republicans. The majority of House Democrats voted against the bill because of concerns about a lack of restrictions on executive branch officials from engaging in similar practices. Democrats also took issue with a provision in the bill that would force states to require photo identification before citizens can cast a ballot. “Our objection is the fact that they are, basically, excluding somebody who is violating the law in our face right now … who’s in the White House, who’s making, you know, countless millions — if not billions — of dollars on some really shady deals,” Congressman Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, said alluding to President Trump during the debate on the House floor before the vote on Wednesday. “Quite frankly, this makes Richard Nixon look like a Boy Scout.” According to his financial disclosures, Mr. Trump’s financial managers made 21,000 trades on the president’s behalf in 2025 alone. “The deal is: the American people are sick of it,” Mr. McGovern said. “They want us to clean up Washington. That includes Congress and that includes the executive branch.”An additional concern for House Democrats was a provision in the stock trading restriction bill that would institute some of the president’s SAVE America Act — a bill which would require Americans to prove citizenship and show photo identification before voting. The stock trading bill was amended to include a provision requiring that citizens show photo ID before voting, which guarantees that the bill will not receive the 60 votes necessary to advance in the Senate, where Democrats hold 47 seats. Senate Democrats have repeatedly blocked the SAVE America Act over the course of the last year. Even the House author of the SAVE America Act — Congressman Chip Roy — announced that the inclusion of the photo ID requirement was meant to give Republicans a messaging tool in the midterm elections by allowing them to say that Democrats oppose a stock trading ban. He says that adding the photo ID amendment would force Democrats to vote no. Mr. Roy has also authored a bill with progressive Democrats, including Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to force lawmakers to not only stop trading securities, but to sell all stocks while they serve on Capitol Hill. “To be clear, [adding the photo ID requirement] was designed specifically to have most Democrats vote against it. I worked in good faith to ban congressional stock trading with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and we should be voting on that work. I will continue to work to try to get that vote this Congress,” Mr. Roy said during the debate on the House floor. Mr. Roy voted for the bill in the end despite his desire for a more comprehensive piece of legislation. The Senate is considering other bipartisan legislation to crack down on stock purchases, sales, and holdings. Given the old adage that the Senate and House are enemies while Democrats and Republicans are merely opposing parties, it is likely that the Senate will not take up the House-passed bill. Earlier this year, the top Democrat on the Senate’s committee that deals with government affairs, Senator Gary Peters, and a populist Republican, Senator Josh Hawley, crafted their own bipartisan stock trading ban legislation. The two have continued to push for that bill, which would ban members of Congress, the president, the vice president, their spouses, and their dependent children from buying, selling, or holding individual stocks while in office.

Stock Trading Restriction Bill Passed by House Despite Democrats’ Objections Over Exemption for Trump, Other Administration Officials

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