WASHINGTON — After months of bickering, the House will finally get a chance Wednesday to vote on legislation to impose sweeping restrictions on stock trades by lawmakers and their spouses.
The “Stop Insider Trading Act” is perhaps the closest Congress has come to tightening its rules on stock trading since 2012, but it still faces an uphill battle to become law.
Nestled in the bill are provisions requiring voters to present an ID in order to cast a ballot, something that is a poison pill for many Democrats. Then, even if it clears the House, there appears to be little appetite for the “Stop Insider Trading Act” in its current form in the Senate.
“Republicans are trying to pull a trick this week. They say we are voting on an ‘insider trading’ bill, but have snuck in massive SAVE Act-style voter suppression measures to it,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) declared. “This is a GOP effort to sabotage national mail-in voting, disguised as a trading ban.”
“I’m voting NO.”
Still, the measure is among the most significant attempts to police and stamp out the risk of insider trading by lawmakers since the passage of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act in 2012.
Under the bill, lawmakers, their spouses, and dependent children are restricted from purchasing individual stocks of publicly traded companies, with few exceptions, such as certain investment funds, while in office.
The bill also stipulates that lawmakers, their spouses, and dependent children can’t sell stock without filing notice between 7–14 days in advance. Violators will get hit with a fee and be subject to ethics scrutiny.
Critics argue that, despite proponents’ characterizations of the bill, it’s not a true ban on congressional stock trading, because lawmakers will still have the ability to sell their assets.
Here’s who could be impacted the most if the bill were to ever become law, based on data from Quiver Quantitative. Notably, calculating exact numbers is tricky because lawmakers are only required to give ranges in their financial disclosures.
Ro Khanna
Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-Calif.) household traded the most frequently — 4,772 times — and the most expensive assets last year, totaling $65.9 million, per Quiver Quantitative.
The Silicon Valley-based rep’s portfolio of trades appears to be heavily diversified across industrial, tech, financial, health care, and other sectors.
“I do not own or trade stocks and have led the fight to ban stock trading,” Khanna claimed on social media last month.
“My household’s only investments are in a trust that my in-laws set up before marriage, managed independently by a third party trustee in full compliance with the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and House Rules.”
Khanna also penned a detailed Substack explaining his family’s finances and underscoring that his “household’s compliance has been independently verified by the watchdogs who track congressional trading.”
Nancy Pelosi
Perhaps the most notorious sitting lawmaker for stock trades is Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whose husband, Paul, made a fortune over the practice.
Pelosi’s household is listed as having made $52,525,000 worth of trades over the past year, spanning 21 occasions.
“Speaker Pelosi does not own any stocks and has no knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions,” her spokesperson, Ian Krager, told The Post.
The former speaker has publicly backed efforts to restrict congressional stock trading since 2022 after initially defending the practice.
“We are a free market economy. They should be able to participate in that,” the former House speaker told a reporter five years ago when pressed on the fortune her husband has amassed trading stocks while she’s in office.
Michael McCaul
The retiring former Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul’s (R-Texas) family, moved some $48 million worth of assets across 980 different trades.
McCaul’s team has previously addressed controversy over his family’s stock trading, noting that his “wife has assets she solely owns, and a third-party manager” makes purchases “without her direction.”
The Post reached out to the congressman’s office for comment.
Most of the stocks in his portfolio appear to be significantly diversified, including in the financial, tech, and health care sectors.
Tony Wied
Rep. Tony Wied’s (R-Wis.) household moved some $25.9 million across 19 different trades, with most of the assets coming from the tech sector.
Wied has backed the Stop Insider Trading Act, but argued it should’ve gone further to prevent potential corruption on Capitol Hill.
“I plan to support this symbolic gesture when it comes to a vote, but let’s be real — insider trading is already entirely illegal,” Wied told The Post.
“If my colleagues on both sides of the aisle were serious about solving the actual problem, we would have gone much further with this legislation and addressed the real issue plaguing the swamp: career politicians using their connections and insider knowledge to enrich themselves as lobbyists and federal contractors after leaving office.”
Gil Cisneros
Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.) and his family were listed as moving some $12 million on over 1,128 occasions, which included investments in tech, health care and industrials.
“My wife and I have always employed outside financial advisors who have a fiduciary responsibility to maintain a diverse portfolio,” Cisneros told The Post. “We do not manage the day-to-day trading of our investment portfolio, nor have we ever suggested a trade while serving in Congress or at the Department of Defense.”
Cisneros further stressed that he has “always complied with all rules and regulations regarding stock trading and financial disclosures” and backs stronger ethics measures.
Notable mentions
Quiver Quantitative listed Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) as a top trader in Congress, but his office has attributed that to an error in his financial disclosures.
Rounding out the top 10 on the list for sitting lawmakers moving the largest volume of trades last year are: Reps. Cleo Fields (D-La.), Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), Tim Moore (R-NC), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), and Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), according to data from Quiver Quantitative.
“Chairwoman McClain’s investments are a matter of public record. They have been made in line with all House rules and applicable laws,” House GOP communications director Joe Buccino told The Post about McClain.
