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Trust in the U.S. Congress has been dismal for years, but a bipartisan group in the House thinks that they can restore just a little bit of it. They want to ban lawmakers from trading individual stocks to address the perception that lawmakers are profiting from their jobs. NPR congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh reports on the effort.
DEIRDRE WALSH, BYLINE: Tennessee Republican Tim Burchett earlier this week summed up the effort to reform ethics laws on Capitol Hill.
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TIM BURCHETT: This is a fist fight, folks.
WALSH: He pointed to a list put out by a private trading firm, featuring which lawmakers have the most profitable stock portfolios.
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BURCHETT: This is pathetic, folks. We all know what's going on. Congress knows what the hell's going on. And it needs to stop.
WALSH: Burchett is part of a bipartisan group with Rhode Island Democrat Seth Magaziner who say allowing lawmakers to buy and sell stock undermines the trust in Congress.
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SETH MAGAZINER: Members of Congress have access to all kinds of inside information that the average member of the public does not. So the opportunity for corruption is unacceptable.
WALSH: Congress passed a law in 2012 known as the STOCK Act - stop trading on congressional knowledge. It requires disclosure of any stock trades over a thousand dollars within 30 days. But it's unevenly enforced and includes just a $200 fine for failing to report transactions. Joe Morelle, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said at a hearing this week that the current system doesn't work.
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JOSEPH MORELLE: Regrettable - those reforms are now just Band-Aids to a gaping, festering wound.
WALSH: Dan Savickas with the Taxpayer Protection Alliance testified that members of Congress can affect the global economy and the U.S. stock market.
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DAN SAVICKAS: They have the ability to trade based off of nonpublic information in a way that would land ordinary private citizens in legal hot water.
WALSH: And he pointed out that many members who trade are beating the market.
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SAVICKAS: According to a 2024 report on data that is available, 46 members of Congress, amongst those who trade, outperformed the S&P 500 last year.
WALSH: Proponents of banning congressional trading say the hearing was an important step, but if a bill wasn't put on the floor they would take steps to force the vote, using the same process that led to legislation directing the release of the Epstein files. But Magaziner says there is a silent force on the part of both parties that don't want new restrictions.
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MAGAZINER: The opponents are quiet, right? They don't get in front of the cameras and say, no, we want to keep trading stocks, but they are in the ear of leadership.
WALSH: A Senate committee approved a similar bill in July, but there's no plan for a floor vote yet. Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson voted no then, saying there are already financial disclosure rules and this bill will make it harder to attract candidates for office.
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RON JOHNSON: You could relabel this law, quite honestly, the career politician protection act.
WALSH: There are some disagreements about how a ban would work - whether congressional spouses and children and senior congressional staffers involved in writing legislation should also be barred from trading stocks. And for those lawmakers who own stocks now or enter Congress after a new law is put into place, there are questions about how to divest and how to handle the tax issues after they move investments into mutual funds. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who doesn't trade stocks, supports a ban, but hasn't committed to a vote yet. After more than a decade of stalled reform efforts, Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick says he's confident this time there is momentum.
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BRIAN FITZPATRICK: This will get a vote. Trust me.
WALSH: He stressed that serving in Congress was designed to be temporary.
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FITZPATRICK: Public service is supposed to be a sacrifice. You're supposed to give things up as part of that public service. And this is the least of which we can do.
WALSH: There are efforts to broaden the ban to apply to the federal judiciary and to the president and vice president. But for now, the House group says it's time to vote to police Congress.
Deirdre Walsh, NPR News, the Capitol.
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