A member of Congress has proposed a new bill that would not only ban members of Congress from buying and selling stocks, but also ban the president. Here are the details.
Congressman Takes on Congressional (and Other Officials) Trading
While pushes have been made to ban members of Congress from trading stocks, the practice remains legal as long as elected officials report their transactions within 45 days of being made.
The president of the U.S. is also allowed to buy and sell stocks, as the public has recently found out with Donald Trump’s tens of thousands of trades made over the last year.
Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) recently introduced H.R. bill 10199, which is also known as the “Sell Your Stocks or Step Down Act.”
According to the wording of the bill, the amendment to U.S. code would “prohibit the President, the Vice President, Members of Congress, senior United States Government officials, and their spouses and dependents from owning or trading stocks, digital assets, and prediction market contracts, and for other purposes.”
Vindman has been a member of Congress since 2025 and has not reported any stock transactions since being in office, according to data from Quiver Quantitative.
The congressman is targeting members of Congress and, unlike other bills, is also targeting Trump. Vindman was previously involved in national security within the U.S. government and was part of the push for the first impeachment of Trump, alleging foreign interference in the 2020 election.
Other Congress Trading Pushes
Vindman’s bill does not have co-sponsors currently and could face long odds of being passed given it targets all members of Congress and would not allow current members keep their current holdings.
Earlier this year, the Stop Insider Trading Act was passed by the House of Representatives with a 232-198 vote. The bill saw only 13 Democrats support it, as it also included sections of the SAVE America Act related to voter identification for elections.
This marked the first congressional stock trading ban bill to reach the House floor, but it was different than other bills that have not made the floor and received wider bipartisan support.
The Stop Insider Trading Act would allow current members to keep their current holdings, but ban them from making more trades once in office. Members would have to issue public notice that they were selling seven to 14 days in advance.
The bill included only members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children.
Unlike other bills with bipartisan support, those who voted against the bill saw it as an attempt to try to get people in Congress to sneak in part of the SAVE America Act. Other opponents thought the bill didn’t do enough and only targeted Congress, leaving the president out of the bill.
Bills that support the president being banned from trading and don’t include the Voter ID Act have not been brought to a vote, but may have gotten more support from both parties, something lost on the minds of those who used the vote tally as an effort to attack Democrats.
“Breaking: 198 Democrats just voted against the Stop Insider Trading Act, which bans members of Congress from trading stocks while in office. Shameful,” the White House tweeted.
That tweet generated a Community Note for being misleading to social media users.
While Vindman’s bill may never reach the floor for a vote, it shows how divided Congress remains on who should be able to buy and sell stocks and if those already in office should be able to continue holding what they own.
Trump’s tens of thousands of trades have shown potential conflicts with his public comments and policies, despite the White House saying he is unaware of the holdings in his investment portfolio.
Photo: W. Scott McGill via Shutterstock
