For years, Americans have watched a troubling pattern play out in Washington. Lawmakers enter office with modest means and leave as millionaires. This pattern of asset growth—often beating the nation’s top hedge funds—further erodes public trust in Congress and has led many Americans to question the branch’s motivations in policymaking. Now, a new bill aims to finally do something about it.
Representative Bryan Steil (R-Wisconsin), Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, has introduced the Stop Insider Trading Act (H.R. 7008), a bill designed to prevent members of Congress from purchasing stocks while in office. The principle is simple: lawmakers shouldn’t be able to enrich themselves from information they receive as part of their official duties. But for many Americans, there is bigger question: Wasn’t this already banned a decade ago?
That question points directly to the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012, passed under the Obama administration. At the time, it was hailed as a major reform to end the conflicts of interest posed by rampant stock trading by members of Congress by affirming that existing insider trading laws applied to members of Congress and required them to disclose stock trades through new reporting procedures. But in practice, these reforms failed to stop abuses and instead gave members a new license to trade within the bounds of the law.
The STOCK Act’s primary flaw was that it relied heavily on transparency and reporting mechanisms rather than strictly enforced prohibitions. Lawmakers can still buy and sell individual stocks—including in industries they oversee—as long as they disclose those trades within a 45-day window after the fact. Yet, the most common violation is missing that deadline, which carries a penalty of only $200. For members profiting from “well-timed” trades, that’s barely a slap on the wrist.
The Stop Insider Trading Act addresses these gaps. Members of Congress would be directly prohibited from buying stock in private companies while in office. Transparency around planned sales would be enhanced by requiring lawmakers to disclose stock sales 7 to 14 days in advance so the public can see transactions before they happen. Finally, penalties for violating these reporting requirements would rise to a minimum of $2,000 or 10% of the trade’s value, whichever is greater, plus the value of any profits made from that sale of stock. In short, if the sale is not reported, the member will be guaranteed to lose money from that transaction.
Members of Congress routinely receive confidential briefings on legislation, regulatory actions, and economic policy—information that directly affects markets. The ability to purchase stocks on that knowledge creates a clear conflict of interest.
The Stop Insider Trading Act tackles that conflict directly. Instead of relying on disclosure after the fact, it would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from purchasing individual stocks while the member is in office. They could still invest, but only in diversified vehicles like mutual funds or exchange-traded funds, which don’t involve betting on specific companies.
Public support for that shift is overwhelming. Polling from the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation shows that 86% of Americans favor banning members of Congress from trading individual stocks. That includes strong majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents—rare consensus in a deeply divided political climate.
Even President Trump has amplified the issue, calling on Congress to pass a stock trading ban “without delay” during the latest State of the Union address, prompting bipartisan applause.
Ultimately, the debate over the Stop Insider Trading Act is about more than stocks. It’s about whether Americans believe their representatives are serving them or their stock portfolios. No single bill will solve all of Washington’s problems with abuse of power and corruption, but confronting this visible web of self-dealing would be a meaningful step forward toward restoring trust in elected officials.