Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) joined U.S. Senators Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and six of their Senate colleagues to reintroduce the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act. This bill will require all members of Congress and their immediate family members to place their stocks into a qualified blind trust or divest their holdings to ensure they cannot use insider information to influence their stock trades and make a profit.
“Members of Congress should spend their time in Washington representing the American people – not worrying about their own bottom line,” said Bennet. “This common-sense legislation would go a long way toward restoring the American people’s faith in our government.”
“Members of Congress should not be playing the stock market while we make Federal policy and have extraordinary access to confidential information,” said Ossoff. “Stock trading by members of Congress massively erodes public confidence in Congress and creates a serious appearance of impropriety, which is why we should ban stock trading by members of Congress altogether.”
“As Americans work hard to keep up with rising costs, the last thing they need to worry about is whether their elected representatives are using inside information to make a quick buck. This isn’t rocket science: the only way to stop insider trading in Congress is to stop members of Congress from trading stocks. Period. Fixing this would go a long way toward restoring trust—and fixing what’s broken in Washington,” said Kelly.
In addition to Bennet, Ossoff, and Kelly, U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) cosponsored the bill.
Bennet is a leading advocate for restoring trust in our government, and has consistently fought against the corrupting influence of money in politics. Bennet, Ossoff, and Kelly first introduced the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act in September 2023. In 2019, Bennet introduced a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United by restoring authority to Congress, states, and the American people to regulate campaign finance. In February 2023, Bennet reintroduced the DISCLOSE Act to enhance disclosure requirements for organizations spending money in elections. Last month, Bennet reintroduced the Close the Revolving Door Act and the Zeroing Out Money for Buying Influence after Elections (ZOMBIE) Act to prevent elected officials from lobbying or misusing campaign funds after leaving office. Last month, he also introduced the STABLE GENIUS Act to prevent elected officials and federal candidates from issuing or endorsing digital assets, while preventing officials from making legislative or policy decisions influenced by the digital assets they hold.
The text of the bill is available HERE.