Congressional Stock Trading Ban

Extracted Attributes

• Scope

  Applies to Members of Congress and their spouses

• Purpose

  Bring better transparency to government

• Previous Legislation

  Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012

• Enforcement Issue (STOCK Act)

  No member of Congress has ever been prosecuted for insider trading under the STOCK Act

• Identified Problem (2019-2021)

  18% of members of Congress traded stocks in sectors related to their committee work

• Proposed Divestment Period (H.R.1679)

  180 days after enactment for current members, 180 days after becoming a member for new members

• Proposed Divestment Period for complex investment vehicles (H.R.1679)

  5 years for Members and their spouses

Timeline

• The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act was passed and signed into law, aiming to prevent insider trading by members of Congress. (Source: web_search_results)

  2012-04-04

• A New York Times investigation discovered that 18% of members of Congress traded stocks in sectors related to the work of the congressional committees they sat on, highlighting ongoing concerns about conflicts of interest. (Source: web_search_results)

  2019-2021

• A key Senate committee approved a bipartisan bill that would ban lawmakers in Congress from trading or holding individual stocks. (Source: web_search_results)

  Recent (unspecified date)

• A bipartisan group of House members unveiled new legislation (H.R.1679) that would ban lawmakers from trading individual stocks. (Source: web_search_results)

  Recent (unspecified date)

Dean Phillips

Dean Benson Phillips (né Pfefer; born January 20, 1969) is an American politician, businessman, and former presidential candidate who served from 2019 to 2025 as the U.S. representative for Minnesota's 3rd congressional district. A member of the Democratic Party, Phillips was an executive in the food and beverage industry before entering politics. Formerly the president and CEO of his family's distilled spirits business, Phillips Distilling Company, he also was the co-owner of Talenti Gelato, Belvedere Vodka, and the Twin Cities-based coffeehouse chain Penny's. Phillips was first elected in 2018, defeating six-term Republican incumbent Erik Paulsen. He became the first Democrat to win the seat in 60 years, and was reelected twice by comfortable margins. In November 2023, Phillips announced that he would not run for another term. Phillips was considered a moderate Democrat and briefly co-chaired the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. Despite consistently voting in support of President Joe Biden's policy positions, Phillips challenged him for the Democratic Party nomination in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Running a long-shot campaign centered around providing younger leadership, he received four delegates to the 2024 Democratic National Convention, the second-most of any candidate in the primaries, making him the runner-up to Biden.

Web Search Results

• S.1879 - Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act

  - [x] Any

• H.R.1679 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Bipartisan Ban on ...

  Each current Member must divest within 180 days after the bill is enacted and each new Member must divest within 180 days after becoming a Member. However, Members and their spouses have 5 years to divest from specified complex investment vehicles.

• Congressional Stock Trading and the STOCK Act

  Congress (with Campaign Legal Center's support) passed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK Act) in 2012, following more than 10 years of allegations that members of Congress were insider trading. We need to ban stock trading by sitting members of Congress now to bring better transparency to our government and increase public trust in our elected officials. Following public outrage and former President Barack Obama’s call for a ban on insider trading by members of Congress, the STOCK Act passed with overwhelming support and was signed into law on April 4, 2012. No member of Congress has ever been prosecuted for insider trading under the STOCK Act.

• A new House bill would ban lawmakers from trading stocks

  A bipartisan group of House members has unveiled new legislation that would ban lawmakers from trading individual stocks. Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., (left) and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, are among a group of lawmakers who've unveiled new legislation seeking to ban lawmakers from trading stocks. In the Senate, a key committee approved a bipartisan bill in July that would ban lawmakers in Congress from trading or holding individual stocks. You may opt out of the sharing of your information with our sponsorship vendors for delivery of personalized sponsorship credits and marketing messages on our website or third-party sites by turning off "Share Data for Targeted Sponsorship." If you opt out, our service providers or vendors may continue to serve you non-personalized, non-"interest-based" sponsorship credits and marketing messages on our website or third-party sites, and those sponsorship credits and marketing message may come with cookies that are used to control how often you encounter those credits and messages, to prevent fraud, and to do aggregate reporting.

• Congressional Stock Trading, Explained

  Placing stricter rules on congressional stock trading is a key ethics reform that’s critical to restoring public trust in Congress. This creates potential for members to personally profit off their offices when they trade individual stocks.Underscoring the risks, a *New York Times* investigation discovered that from 2019 to 2021, 18 percent of members of Congress traded stocks in sectors related to the work of the congressional committees they sat on. Congress should grant the Office of Congressional Conduct — which investigates violations of stock trading and other ethics rules in the House — subpoena power, make it statutory (so it does not rely on reauthorization every Congress), and create a similar body in the Senate.