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(NewsNation) — The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would bar members of Congress from trading stock while serving.
In a 232-198 vote, the Stop Insider Trading Act was passed, with nearly all Republicans and at least 13 Democrats voting for it.
The vote came after previous efforts to prohibit congressional stock trading have been stalled despite bipartisan support.
With the legislation passed, lawmakers would be restricted from making new purchases of individual stocks but may keep the ones already in their possession.
Members of Congress will also be able to buy and trade investment stocks.
Ban on congressional insider trading gained momentum last year
Late last year, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., filed a discharge petition in an attempt to bypass House Republican leadership to force a vote on a bill from Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., to prohibit stock trading among Congress and their immediate family members.
Luna had long warned that she would file such a petition if leaders did not move fast enough to advance stock ban legislation.
“We have decided that because of a lack of movement from the House of Representatives to initiate the discharge petition on banning insider trading,” the congresswoman said. “If leadership wants to put forward a bill that would actually do that and end the corruption, we’re all for it.”
In February during his State of the Union, President Donald Trump stated he would ensure congressional insider trading would be stopped.
His remarks followed a bipartisan push that was launched by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, and Republican Sen. Ashley Moody of Florida to ban Congress from trading stocks.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, one of the biggest proponents of allowing congressional members to trade, was targeted by Trump over the issue.
Pelosi had faced scrutiny over her husband’s successful stock trading and once drew backlash for not supporting a ban, but she later reversed course.
Americans have called for a ban on congressional insider trading
In recent years, members of Congress have drawn the ire of Americans after lawmakers on both sides of the aisle made beneficial stock trades during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and ahead of economic recessions by using early nonpublic information about the dramatic changes in the economy.
An investigation from The New York Times found that from 2019 to 2021, 18% of congressional members traded stocks in sectors related to the work of the congressional committees they sat on.
Congress has yet to enact a stock trading ban for its members, though insider trading is already illegal for members just like it is for anyone else.
The House also passed a vote on the NDAA, which involves spending authorization for the Pentagon and the House Budget Bill.
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