An upcoming vote on reining in stock trading by members of Congress is serving as a painful reminder of what could have been for a bipartisan working group who hoped to ban stock ownership by lawmakers entirely.
Members who spent months working on the effort described lingering frustration this week as a bill backed by Republican leadership heads to the floor.
“We had a bipartisan consensus bill that we had introduced that was ready to move forward. Instead, they’re doing something that they hope will make it seem like they’re addressing it — but they’re not addressing it at all,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.
Dubbed the Stop Insider Trading Act and led by House Administration Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis., the GOP-led bill would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from buying new individual stocks. But unlike the consensus proposal, it would not require divestment of existing ones.
“It’s a terrible bill. It doesn’t ban stock trading in Congress or anywhere else,” said Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I.
