House Republicans Setting Up Early 2026 Vote On Stock Trading Ban
House Republicans are teeing up a vote in early 2026 on legislation that would ban members of Congress from trading stock, however Democrats are insisting that it be expanded to cover the president, vice president, and their spouses.
On Thursday a group of House Republicans met to hash out the framework for an intraparty compromise that will only place restrictions on lawmakers, with a target date of March for a floor vote.
"I think we’re going to deliver a really strong product in 2026," said Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) in a statement to the Washington Times, adding that the legislation will include "a lot of elements" of his bipartisan bill - the Restore Trust in Congress Act, which is cosponsored by Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI).
The new measure would ban members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from owning or trading stocks, securities, commodities, futures, or comparable economic investments, and would require current lawmakers to divest such assets within 180 days of the bill's enactment. Future lawmakers would be required to divest within 90 days of taking office.
According to Roy, the final legislation will be a Republican Conference product which he hopes Democrats will warm up to.
Earlier this year Florida GOP Rep. Anna Palina Luna filed a discharge petition to force a vote on the Roy-Magaziner bill, however it fell significantly short of the 218 signatures needed.
Jeffries Demands President Too
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) says he won't back any bipartisan deal unless it also bans presidents, vice presidents and their spouses from stock trading - provisions which Magazier included in a new bill released this week for which he's launching a discharge petition.
"There is absolutely no justification for the president, who has far more power than any individual member of Congress, or the vice president, to be able to trade stocks in real time when they have more access to inside information that perhaps the entire United States Congress combined as it relates to regulatory activity," said Jeffries.
And of course, the new GOP bill won't satisfy his demands.
"The executive branch has rules," said Roy. "Right now, we’re trying to just focus on cleaning up our own mess, and then we can try to look elsewhere if we need to."
House Speaker Mike Johnson met with Roy, Luna and other Republicans on Thursday to coordinate the stock trading ban. Also in the meeting were Reps. Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Nancy Mace of South Carolina - who all left the meeting 'confident' that the new legislation would achieve the underlying goal, the Times continues.
"No more insider trading," said Luna, promising that the bill they're assembling "is going to be good."
"I think it would be stupid for any member of Congress to not vote for this," she said. "It is the most bipartisan issue. Now, we have to make sure that the Senate does it too. But there’s also talk about potentially changing the House rules to get this effected immediately."
President Trump has previously said that he would sign a congressional stock trading ban if one made it to his desk - though he then threw a tantrum when Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) joined with Democrats in July to advance a bill out of the Senate Homeland Committee that banned lawmakers, the president, the vice president, their spouses, and dependent children from trading stonks.
"I don’t think real Republicans want to see their President, who has had unprecedented success, TARGETED, because of the ‘whims’ of a second-tier Senator named Josh Hawley!" Trump said on social media.
It turns out Trump was misinformed by other GOP senators who told him the bill would require him to sell his assets.
"I said that is absolutely not true at all," Hawley told reporters. "I said your assets are all protected. It applies to the next president. … He finished by saying, ‘You’re totally exonerated, Josh. We love you.’"