Stock Trading Ban for Members of Congress
Floor Speech
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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Magaziner has been an excellent partner in this effort, and it is now long overdue.
I am glad he mentioned my friend, Abigail Spanberger. Both of us went to the University of Virginia. That is part of the reason why we conspired together on this bill, when we were talking about how ridiculous it was that, on both sides of the aisle, there were blatant abuses of this trust that the American people put in the people who represent them not to violate that trust by trading securities for- profit on the very issues they are supposed to be voting on objectively to benefit the United States of America. Yet, that is precisely what has happened.
Mr. Speaker, this is now the fourth Congress in a row that I have introduced the TRUST in Congress Act, now with Mr. Magaziner, and I think it is long overdue.
In the 119th Congress, we have 12 Republican cosponsors and 60 Democratic cosponsors. I say to my Republican colleagues: Get with the program because 12 is not enough. We need to get everybody on board here.
I am glad the Speaker has said that he would support it. I am glad the President of the United States, President Trump, has said that he would sign it. Yet, we have to be realistic about what we are talking about.
We vote every day on massive issues. We vote about healthcare policies involving pharmaceutical companies that make billions of dollars, massive insurance companies, and massive hospital corporations. We vote on intellectual property issues in the Committee on the Judiciary. We vote on antitrust issues. We vote on all manners of issues, including Defense Department policies, that involve hundreds of billions of dollars in the capital markets. Yet, Members are voting on that while trading stocks on a daily basis.
Capitol Trades reports that 113 Members of Congress made 9,261 trades in 2024 involving 706 million shares or other assets. We had a Democrat who made 4,000 trades for a 20 percent return. We had a Republican who made almost 2,000 trades for a 23 percent return; a Democrat, 575 trades, a 22 percent return.
I could keep going down the list.
We had Members of Congress in 2024: a Republican with a 149 percent return; a Democrat with a 142 percent return; a Democrat with a 124 percent return; a Republican with a 111 percent return; a Democrat with a 105 percent return.
I could keep going down. There is a lot of Americans who would like to have returns along those lines. In fact, there are now funds out there that follow and trade along with the congressional Members of Congress to see what they are trading. That is ridiculous.
You should come to Congress. You should take your assets and move them into widely held index funds. It should be able to be done on a tax basis. Come in here. Clean the decks. Go represent your constituents. It is long past due. Let's move the bill. Let's get it to the floor. Mr. Speaker, bring it to a vote, and let's put trust back in Congress.
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