A bipartisan group of House members with competing bills to ban congressional stock trading are privately working together to craft a consensus bill that could have broad appeal across Congress.
Reps. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.), Chip Roy (R-Texas), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) have been engaged in informal talks to find common ground on proposals barring lawmakers from trading stocks.
The group has held two private meetings so far, including on Wednesday night, when multiple members involved said progress was made. The lawmakers are aiming to either craft one new bill or heavily amend an existing bill to appease everyone involved in the discussions.
“We’re going to need to move something this year,” Roy told us. “It’s long past time. We’ve had legislation now for a few years, and we’ve been patient.”
Lawmakers in the group generally agree that the ban should extend to lawmakers’ spouses and dependents.
But the main issue they are trying to resolve is how to penalize members who don’t abide by the ban. Past proposals have ranged from hefty fines to Justice Department referrals, all of which drew opposition.
The group is also trying to figure out how to handle members who come into Congress owning stocks.
Momentum growing: President Donald Trump and several high-ranking lawmakers have signaled their support for a stock-trading ban.
Trump told Time Magazine that he would “absolutely” sign legislation that banned lawmakers from trading stocks.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has long supported a ban on congressional stock trading, reiterating his support at a Thursday news conference.
“I strongly support the effort to get this done,” Jeffries said.
Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar also mentioned the issue on local radio this week. Aguilar cited a contentious Natural Resources Committee hearing this week where Democrats criticized Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) for disclosing that he purchased company stocks from industries the panel oversees.
“Those types of things just are absolutely detrimental in having trust in Congress,” Aguilar told KQED. “I do think it is something we need to dig into a little bit more and support.”
But House GOP leaders, bogged down in the midst of the reconciliation process, haven’t focused on this issue at all, according to Republican leadership aides.
To be frank, it may be difficult for Congress to act on this while Trump is president. Trump’s family has made hundreds of millions of dollars from cryptocurrency deals since he returned to office. Democrats have attacked this as a major conflict of interest.
