House passes bill to limit stock purchases by members of Congress

Washington — The House on Wednesday passed a bill placing some limits on congressional stock trading, but the lack of tougher restrictions and the inclusion of a voter ID provision complicated its support among Democrats.

Lawmakers approved the bill in a 232 to 198 vote, with 13 Democrats voting with all Republicans in favor.

The Stop Insider Trading Act, introduced by Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin in January, would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from purchasing publicly traded stocks. It would also require lawmakers to publicly disclose each intended sale of stocks at least seven days in advance to the House clerk or Senate secretary. The penalty for a violation is $2,000 or 10% of the transaction's value, whichever is greater, as well as the forfeiture of any realized gains from the sale.

The measure "ensures that lawmakers cannot use their position to profit off insider information they may garner while serving in Congress," Steil said Monday.

Republicans combined the stock trading bill with an unrelated provision that requires voters to show photo identification when voting in federal elections, as President Trump pushes for strict new voter-eligibility rules.

Democrats panned the bill as not going far enough, pushing for an outright ban on members of Congress from owning stocks and for those limits to also extend to the president and administration officials.

"This bill would, in fact, allow members of Congress to continue to own and trade individual stocks. The bill would let members of Congress keep every single share of stock they currently own. The bill would allow members to liquidate their holdings at any time, profiting off years of ballooning investment portfolios. There is no divestiture required under this bill, and crucially, the bill does nothing to rein in the unprecedented, absurd, and deeply offensive corruption currently taking place in the White House," Rep. Joe Morelle of New York said Monday.

Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington called the measure "a fake stock trading ban."

There have been various efforts in Congress to pass a congressional stock trading ban, with proponents saying current law does little to discourage public officials from using their positions for personal gain. Under a 13-year-old law known as the STOCK Act, members of Congress, executive branch officials and other federal employees are prohibited from using nonpublic information for their financial benefit. The law also requires officials to disclose stock trades exceeding $1,000 within 45 days. But no memb