The House narrowly passed a bill to add new restrictions on lawmakers trading stocks after a partisan dispute resulted in a narrower proposal that stops short of an outright ban.
The bill passed 232 to 198 on Wednesday, with only 13 Democrats joining Republicans in support. It is unclear when or if it will be taken up in the Senate.
The measure prevents lawmakers, their spouses, and dependent children from buying new stocks of publicly traded companies while serving in Congress, which adds a new restriction on a highly controversial practice.
Under the legislation, lawmakers can still buy private stocks, keep stocks they already owned prior to entering Congress and maintain certain investment funds. Selling stock would require a seven-to-14-day advance notice. If the new rules are violated, the lawmaker would have to pay a fee of $2,000 or 10% of the value of the transaction, whichever is greater, and forfeit the profit from the trade.
In the days leading up to the vote, a separate voter ID measure that would also add new restrictions on mail-in voting was added to the bill, further complicating the push to pass the bill.
