Bill Banning Lawmakers From Trading Stocks Dies in the Senate

The Senate on Wednesday rejected the House-approved Stop Insider Trading Act that would have banned federal lawmakers from trading individual stocks.

The 53-47 procedural vote derails legislation that Americans — irrespective of party affiliation and political ideology — almost universally support in principle.

And it comes after scandals involving public officials’ personal financial investments, including dozens of violations this decade of the existing Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act.

While the Stop Insider Trading Act banned lawmakers from trading individual stocks, it allowed them to keep stocks they already owned — something many Democrats said was a problematic loophole. Republicans also attached the stock ban to a provision requiring voters to present photo identification at polling stations, a “poison pill” that soured Democratic enthusiasm.

Senators who’ve violated the STOCK Act’s disclosure provisions during the past year include Alan Armstrong (R-Oklahoma), Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Katie Britt (R-Alabama), Susan Collins (R-Maine), John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado), Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) and John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania).

In July, the House passed the Stop Insider Trading Act in a 232-198 vote, with 13 Democrats joining Republicans in passing it. But even then, the bill appeared to face dim prospects in the Senate. Congress could resurrect a stock-ban bill during its lame-duck session after November’s midterm elections.

But the Republican-controlled House and Senate have shown little appetite this Congress for bipartisan bills such as the Restore Trust in Congress Act, which included stricter rules governing lawmakers’ personal financial habits.