Trump throws support behind bipartisan effort to ban stock trading for elected officials

President Donald Trump on Monday threw support behind a bipartisan effort led by Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., to end stock trading for members of Congress and their spouses. 

"MASSIVE WIN!" Trump wrote on TRUTH Social. "Congresswoman Anna Luna is using a procedural loophole to force a vote to ban stock trading for Congressmen and Senators THIS MONTH! Nancy Pelosi is FREAKING OUT!"

Forcing a vote on the bill

The TRUTH post has a video linked of Luna explaining that she wants the legislation, H.R. 5106, brought to the floor by House leadership and if that doesn't happen by the end of the month, she will bring forward a discharge petition to force a vote. H.R. 5106, also called the "Restore Trust in Congress Act", is a bill that would prohibit members of Congress and their spouses from trading or owning stocks. 

A discharge petition allows an elected official to bypass leadership and get legislation to the floor by collecting signatures from a majority of members of Congress.

Luna said that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also supported the move to end stock trading last month. 

"Ninety-five percent of Americans support this...we've asked leadership to put this on the floor," Luna said at a press conference last week. "If they don't, I'm saying [the] timeline is [the] end of month. There's a discharge petition prepared and ready to go. I think it's very clear where the White House stands on this."

Ocasio-Cortez and Trump on the same side

The legislation has 16 original cosponsors, with eight being Republicans and eight being Democrats, and was introduced in a widely bipartisan manner by Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., last week, as well as Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, and "Squad" members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.

"It’s far past time to ban Members of Congress from day trading stocks, and for the first time, a bipartisan coalition is standing together behind a united proposal to do just that," Roy said in a statement. 

"The Restore Trust in Congress Act ensures that members of Congress will no longer be able to put the stock market first in their official decisions. This bill strikes a balance between being easy to comply with, but without tons of loopholes for Members to continue trading while on the job."

“We must take a strong stand against corruption and end stock trading by members of Congress once and for all,” Magaziner said in a statement. “I have made banning Congressional stock trading a priority throughout my time in the House, and this bipartisan bill is our best chance at finally getting it done.”

Current law allows ownership with disclosure

While the bill has not been taken up by the Senate, there is opposition to the overall premise. In July, a Senate committee approved legislation to ban elected officials from trading or owning individual stocks. Currently, senators are allowed to trade stocks, but they must publicly disclose their trades over $1,000 within 45 days of the transaction under the 2012 Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which applies to both chambers. This law prohibits insider trading but does not ban lawmakers from trading stocks altogether.

The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization, says that "no member of Congress has ever been prosecuted for insider trading under the STOCK Act." Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said some senators had concerns about the legislation and didn't bring it to the floor, according to NPR.