House Passes Stock Trading Ban for Lawmakers

House members moved to rein in their own finances Wednesday—while igniting a fresh fight over voting rules. In a 232–198 vote, the chamber approved the Stop Insider Trading Act, which would bar lawmakers, their spouses, and dependent children from buying individual stocks and require seven days' public notice before any sale. Violators would face fines and loss of any profits, CBS News reports. Some 13 Democrats joined all the chamber's Republicans in voting for the bill, reports the Hill.

• But Republicans paired the measure with a national photo ID requirement for federal elections, a move that helped peel off Democratic support and prompted charges the bill is too weak anyway. Critics say it allows members to keep and sell the stocks they already own and doesn't cover the president, vice president, or other administration officials.

Democratic Rep. Joe Morelle called the bill a "sham" and said the voter ID provision was a "poison pill," the AP reports. "The bill would allow members to liquidate their holdings at any time, profiting off years of ballooning investment portfolios," he said. "There is no divestiture required under this bill, and crucially, the bill does nothing to rein in the unprecedented, absurd, and deeply offensive corruption currently taking place in the White House." Another Democrat, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, dubbed it "a fake stock trading ban."

• The Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan ethics watchdog, urged lawmakers to reject the bill, saying it "fails to address the two inherent problems with congressional stock ownership: the appearance of insider trading and members' ability to profit from their official position."

It's not clear whether the bill will pass the Senate. Broader bipartisan bans remain stalled in both chambers, and some lawmakers, including GOP Rep. Chip Roy, are now demanding a clean, standalone vote on stock trading limits. "I think my friends that worked in good faith to do that deserve that on both sides of the aisle," Roy said. He said that while he would have preferred a bill that included divestiture, the one passed Wednesday is still a "giant step forward." The bill was introduced by GOP Rep. Bryan Steil. "This legislation is critical to restoring the public's trust in their elected officials," he said earlier this year. "If you want to trade stocks, go to Wall Street, not Capitol Hill."