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Do you want to take care of the Capitol Hill stock gods? The U.S. Senate will vote on the Insider Trading Prohibition Act

2026-07-23·newswire-us-stock-025226
Do you want to take care of the Capitol Hill stock gods? The U.S. Senate will vote on the Insider Trading Prohibition Act.

On Wednesday local time, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill called the "Stop Insider Trading Act" by a vote of 232 to 198.

The bill is the first congressional stock trading ban bill to be voted on in the plenary session of the House of Representatives, aiming to restrict members of Congress and their family members from buying and selling stocks. The bill will next go to the Senate for consideration.

The public generally supports a comprehensive ban on stock trading while members are in office: For decades, members have relied on precise timing of stock buying and selling, and their investment portfolio returns have significantly outperformed the market.

Ethics watchdogs have repeatedly questioned their use of insider information in their positions to make profits, and related behaviors continue to cause strong public dissatisfaction. Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is the most famous "Capitol Hill stock god". Her husband operates the account on her behalf.

In 2024, the investment income was 71%, and the multi-year compound return exceeded 700%, significantly outperforming Buffett's long-term returns. Statistics from Unusual Whales, an organization that tracks politicians’ transactions: Nearly 20% of the transactions of senators and representatives have obvious conflicts of interest.

The transactions of members of the Finance, National Defense, Pharmaceutical, and Semiconductor Committees have unusually high returns on individual stocks in the corresponding industries. The current legislation of the 2012 "STOCK Act" was originally intended to block the gray area of insider trading among members, but it has the following fatal flaws.

First, the penalties are extremely light: the penalty for failing to disclose a transaction in a timely manner for the first time is only US$200, which lacks deterrence. Second, there is a lack of enforcement: for decades, very few members of Congress have been prosecuted or punished for violating the act.

Third, it only prohibits “insider information trading” and does not restrict members from normal buying and selling of individual stocks, making it impossible to avoid the perception of conflicts of interest.

On September 3, 2025, Democratic Representatives Ocasio-Cortez and Magazina, and Republican Representatives Fitzpatrick, Anna Paulina Luna, and Chip Roy jointly held a cross-party press conference and announced that they would promote mandatory voting and legislate a comprehensive ban on members and their family members trading individual stocks.

In the "Insider Trading Prohibition Act" proposed this time, the Republican Party proposed mild restrictions, with no forced liquidation requirements, only new purchases are prohibited, and existing stocks can be held for a long time and sold freely.

The Republican-led bill falls far short of the reform standards proposed by supporters of a comprehensive ban, and Democratic lawmakers have unanimously expressed their opposition to the proposal. Rhode Island Democratic Representative Seth Magazina said: "I am very disappointed with this bill.

It is called a restriction on stock trading, but in fact it still allows shareholding transactions. It is a weak bill." On the other hand, the Republican Party bundled a voter ID verification provision into the bill, directly dissuading Democrats who might have supported the bill and significantly increasing the resistance to the bill's passage.

Trump has been pressuring Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which requires voters across the United States to show ID and proof of citizenship when voting. Currently, the bill lacks sufficient support in the Senate.

Analysts believe that at the Senate level, ordinary bills require 60 votes to end a lengthy debate, and the Republican Party itself does not have an absolute majority and does not have enough seats. At the same time, Democrats may continue to reject it unanimously, and the bill may eventually die in the Senate.

In any case, this is still an important milestone in the United States’ efforts to strengthen its management of government personnel transactions.

#Stocks #Amazon #Semiconductors #Earnings

Full text

Do you want to take care of the Capitol Hill stock gods? The U.S. Senate will vote on the Insider Trading Prohibition Act

[Are you going to take care of the Capitol Hill stock gods? The U.S. Senate will vote on the "Stop Insider Trading Act"] On Wednesday local time, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 232 to 198 to pass a bill called the "Stop Insider Trading Act." The bill is the first congressional stock trading ban bill to be voted on in the plenary session of the House of Representatives, aiming to restrict members of Congress and their family members from buying and selling stocks. The bill will next go to the Senate for consideration.

On Wednesday local time, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill called the "Stop Insider Trading Act" by a vote of 232 to 198. The bill is the first congressional stock trading ban bill to be voted on in the plenary session of the House of Representatives, aiming to restrict members of Congress and their family members from buying and selling stocks. The bill will next go to the Senate for consideration. The public generally supports a comprehensive ban on stock trading while members are in office: For decades, members have relied on precise timing of stock buying and selling, and their investment portfolio returns have significantly outperformed the market. Ethics watchdogs have repeatedly questioned their use of insider information in their positions to make profits, and related behaviors continue to cause strong public dissatisfaction. Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is the most famous "Capitol Hill stock god". Her husband operates the account on her behalf. In 2024, the investment income was 71%, and the multi-year compound return exceeded 700%, significantly outperforming Buffett's long-term returns. Statistics from Unusual Whales, an organization that tracks politicians’ transactions: Nearly 20% of the transactions of senators and representatives have obvious conflicts of interest. The transactions of members of the Finance, National Defense, Pharmaceutical, and Semiconductor Committees have unusually high returns on individual stocks in the corresponding industries. The current legislation of the 2012 "STOCK Act" was originally intended to block the gray area of insider trading among members, but it has the following fatal flaws. First, the penalties are extremely light: the penalty for failing to disclose a transaction in a timely manner for the first time is only US$200, which lacks deterrence. Second, there is a lack of enforcement: for decades, very few members of Congress have been prosecuted or punished for violating the act. Third, it only prohibits “insider information trading” and does not restrict members from normal buying and selling of individual stocks, making it impossible to avoid the perception of conflicts of interest. On September 3, 2025, Democratic Representatives Ocasio-Cortez and Magazina, and Republican Representatives Fitzpatrick, Anna Paulina Luna, and Chip Roy jointly held a cross-party press conference and announced that they would promote mandatory voting and legislate a comprehensive ban on members and their family members trading individual stocks. In the "Insider Trading Prohibition Act" proposed this time, the Republican Party proposed mild restrictions, with no forced liquidation requirements, only new purchases are prohibited, and existing stocks can be held for a long time and sold freely. The Republican-led bill falls far short of the reform standards proposed by supporters of a comprehensive ban, and Democratic lawmakers have unanimously expressed their opposition to the proposal. Rhode Island Democratic Representative Seth Magazina said: "I am very disappointed with this bill. It is called a restriction on stock trading, but in fact it still allows shareholding transactions. It is a weak bill." On the other hand, the Republican Party bundled a voter ID verification provision into the bill, directly dissuading Democrats who might have supported the bill and significantly increasing the resistance to the bill's passage. Trump has been pressuring Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which requires voters across the United States to show ID and proof of citizenship when voting. Currently, the bill lacks sufficient support in the Senate. Analysts believe that at the Senate level, ordinary bills require 60 votes to end a lengthy debate, and the Republican Party itself does not have an absolute majority and does not have enough seats. At the same time, Democrats may continue to reject it unanimously, and the bill may eventually die in the Senate. In any case, this is still an important milestone in the United States’ efforts to strengthen its management of government personnel transactions.

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