Washington — Rep. Anna Paulina Luna on Tuesday followed through on a monthslong threat to try to force a vote on a bipartisan bill that would ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks.
Luna, a Florida Republican, introduced a discharge petition to circumvent House leaders and put the measure on the floor for a vote if it receives 218 signatures. The procedural maneuver has become a common tactic for rank-and-file lawmakers to try to force a vote on issues ignored by Republican leaders.
The congresswoman had threatened to file a discharge petition if there wasn’t movement on the Restore Trust in Congress Act by the end of September. But the push for a vote was stalled by the 43-day government shutdown that began on Oct. 1. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, kept the House out of session during the shutdown, putting all committee hearings and markups of legislation on hiatus.
Dozens of House lawmakers across the political spectrum have coalesced behind the Restore Trust in Congress Act, which would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from owning or trading individual stocks. The compromise bill was introduced by Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas in September and has the support of more than 100 members, including progressives, conservatives and moderate Republicans and Democrats.
But the bill is also facing bipartisan opposition, according to its cosponsors, who spoke to reporters ahead of a Nov. 19 hearing before the House Administration Committee about congressional stock trading.
“There are members in both parties who do not want this to happen, who are in the ear of leadership, who are trying to stop this from happening,” Democratic Rep. Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island said.
Under a 13-year-old law known as the STOCK Act, members of Congress, executive branch officials and other federal employees are prohibited from using nonpublic information for their financial benefit. The law also requires officials to disclose stock trades exceeding $1,000 within 45 days.
Critics say the law needs reforms to require more transparency to ensure public officials are not using their positions for personal gain.
“This body has been enriching itself on the taxpayers’ dime for too dadgum long, and it’s got to stop,” Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told reporters. “We’re in committee meetings. We hear things before y’all do. We can make those connections.”
Dan Savickas, the vice president of policy and government affairs at the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, told lawmakers during the hearing that “on average, members of both political parties outperformed the market.”
“Each party’s performance gets a boost when they control more branches of government,” Savickas said. “This only lends further credence to the public perception that congressional representatives are using their office for personal gain rather than public service.”
No member of Congress has ever been prosecuted under the current law and no public records exist indicating that any officials have ever paid fines for disclosure errors, according to James R. Copland, a senior fellow at Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a conservative think tank.
Luna called last month’s hearing “for show,” and expressed concern that watered-down legislation “with no teeth” could end up on the floor instead of the compromise bill.