Senate Democrats on Wednesday swatted down a Republican-backed bid to rein in lawmakers' stock trades, saying it barely touched the problem. The Stop Insider Trading Act, sponsored by Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, fell short on a 53-47 procedural vote, needing 60 to advance and drawing zero Democratic support despite having passed the House in July, the Hill reports. The New York Times reports that the bill's failure was "predetermined" after Republicans attached voter ID restrictions that the Senate had already rejected six times.
Ricketts, in a tight race and facing accusations he profited from well-timed trades after President Trump rolled back tariffs, pitched the bill as a way to "ban congressional insider trading." It would have barred members from buying new publicly traded stocks and required advance notice of sales, but allowed them to keep existing holdings and buy private shares. It would not have placed restrictions on the president or vice president. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted it as "toothless" and as "ineffective as a screen door on a submarine."
"Only Senate Republicans would dare call a bill that permits members of Congress to continue to own, sell, and, in some instances, buy stocks a stock-trading ban. They can't be serious," Schumer said. "The Republican bill is a permission slip for corruption, not a stock-trading ban." Schumer said a stronger bill was approved by the Senate Homeland Security Committee last year with bipartisan support, but House Republicans watered it down and added the "poison pill" of voter ID requirements, the Hill reports.
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