Investigation Particularly Concerning Cases Closed Investigations

January 24, 2022
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi The Honorable Kevin McCarthy

Speaker Republican Leader
U.S. House of Representatives U.S. House of Representatives
H-232, U.S. Capitol H-204, U.S. Capitol
Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20515
Dear Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy,
We are writing to urge you to swiftly bring legislation to prohibit members of Congress from
owning or trading stocks, such as the Ban Conflicted Trading Act or the TRUST in Congress Act,
to the House floor. This common-sense, bipartisan legislation is unfortunately necessary in light
of recent misconduct, and is supported by Americans across the political spectrum. Both of you
have recently addressed this issue in public comments, but this glaring problem will not go away
until it is fixed and Congress should not delay when we have the power to fix it.
As you know, Congress passed the STOCK Act in 2012 in an attempt to prevent members of
Congress from using congressional knowledge to their advantage in stock trading. However, one
recent investigation found that the STOCK Act had been violated hundreds of times just since
2020.1 It’s clear the current rules are not working.
In several particularly concerning cases from 2020, senators from both parties made significant
stock sales after receiving closed briefings on the emergence of COVID-19 but before the
pandemic was fully understood by the public and impacting the market.2 While those senators
apparently did not violate the letter of the law, as the Department of Justice has closed its
investigations of these trades, that outcome demonstrates how shamefully narrow the current law
is. The law prohibits only those stock trades that members of Congress make or direct because of
their nonpublic knowledge.3 But it can be nearly impossible to determine what counts as
“nonpublic knowledge” or how personally involved members are in their stock trades.
Instead, Congress should close these loopholes by simply banning members from owning or
trading individual stocks while in office. In addition to ensuring that members’ access to
information doesn’t advantage them over the public when trading stocks, as the STOCK Act
sought, this would end the potential corruption of lawmakers pursuing policy outcomes that
benefit their portfolios. There is no reason that members of Congress need to be allowed to trade
stocks when we should be focused on doing our jobs and serving our constituents. Perhaps this
1
DeChalus, Camilia, Kimberly Leonard, Dave Levinthal. “Congress and top Capitol Hill staff have violated the
STOCK Act hundreds of times. But the consequences are minimal, inconsistent, and not recorded publicly.” Insider.
December 15, 2021.
2
Benner, Katie and Nicholas Fandos. “Justice Dept. Ends Inquiries Into 3 Senators’ Stock Trades.” New York
Times. May 26, 2020.
3
Ibid.
Page 2
means some of our colleagues will miss out on lucrative investment opportunities. We don’t
care. We came to Congress to serve our country, not turn a quick buck.
Americans across the political spectrum support banning members of Congress from trading
stocks. According to recent polling, 76 percent of Americans—including 70 percent of
Democrats, 78 percent of Republicans, and 80 percent of independents—say that members of
congress should not be allowed to trade stocks.4 At a time when public confidence in Congress is
low, holding ourselves to this standard would be an important step to earn back their trust.5
We understand that multiple bipartisan bills to ban members of Congress from owning or trading
individual stocks have been introduced in the House. However, handwringing over which bill to
advance should be no excuse for stalling a House floor vote on this issue. Instead, we view the
emergence of multiple bipartisan bills on this issue as a sign of broad rank-and-file support for it
across Congress. Good-faith differences of opinion between members on the details of this
legislation can be resolved through an amendment process.
While there are many difficult questions facing Congress, this is an easy one. Members of
Congress should not be allowed to own or trade individual stocks. Let’s get this done.
Respectfully,
Jared F. Golden Brian K. Fitzpatrick

Member of Congress Member of Congress
Rashida Tlaib Matt Gaetz

4
Evers-Hillstrom, Karl. “Three in four voters support banning lawmakers from trading stocks: poll.” The Hill.
January 6, 2022.
5
Gallup. “Congress and the Public.” September 17, 2021.
Page 3
Mark Pocan Tom Malinowski

Susan Wild Conor Lamb

Katie Porter Rep. Pramila Jayapal

Jesús G. "Chuy" García Mary Gay Scanlon

Abigail Davis Spanberger Angie Craig

Kathleen M. Rice Andy Levin

Page 4
Bill Foster Tom O'Halleran

Joe Neguse Dean Phillips

Tim Ryan Greg Stanton

Andy Kim Melanie Stansbury

Ritchie Torres Matt Cartwright

Haley M. Stevens
Member of Congress

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January 24, 2022

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi The Honorable Kevin McCarthy

Dear Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy,

Jared F. Golden Brian K. Fitzpatrick

Rashida Tlaib Matt Gaetz

Mark Pocan Tom Malinowski

Susan Wild Conor Lamb

Katie Porter Rep. Pramila Jayapal

Jesús G. "Chuy" García Mary Gay Scanlon

Abigail Davis Spanberger Angie Craig

Kathleen M. Rice Andy Levin

Bill Foster Tom O'Halleran

Joe Neguse Dean Phillips

Tim Ryan Greg Stanton

Andy Kim Melanie Stansbury

Ritchie Torres Matt Cartwright

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