Senate Republicans are trying to ban the purchase of individual stocks by members of Congress in one of their final votes before Election Day.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, has teed up the vote to take place Wednesday on the House-passed Stop Insider Trading Act.
If it becomes law, the bill would prohibit members of Congress and their close family members from making new purchases of individual stock and require them to disclose stock sales at least a week in advance.
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If a lawmaker, their spouse, or their dependent violated the rules, that lawmaker would have to pay a fee and sell any stock they purchased.
However, the bill also includes election-related provisions to require voters to show photo identification in federal elections.
Democrats have opposed photo ID requirements several times in the Senate and are unlikely to change course on Wednesday.
Insider trading is a federal crime, and the STOCK Act of 2012 requires disclosure of investments and makes clear that insider trading laws apply to members.
But advocates of the Stop Insider Trading Act say it would, for the first time, impose true restrictions on congressional stock trading and strong consequences for violations.
The bill has been championed by Sen. Pete Ricketts, Nebraska Republican, who is in a competitive Senate race with independent candidate Dan Osborn.
“Public service is a privilege, not a profit center,” Mr. Ricketts said in a statement when he introduced the bill. “Trust in Congress remains at an all-time low. To fix that, we need to prove we are playing by the same rules as everyone else.”
Polling suggests a stock trading ban is highly popular with voters.
A 2023 survey conducted for the University of Maryland found that 86% of polled registered voters favored banning lawmakers and their families from trading individual stocks.
Lawmakers’ support for a ban has become a common subject in campaign ads ahead of Election Day.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, has rallied his colleagues against the bill.
“The bill Republicans are offering today is Swiss cheese legislating, creating loophole after loophole,” he said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “The bill even lets members continue to own and sell stocks.”
Mr. Schumer also said the bill should include a stock trading ban on the president and that the voter ID provisions are a nonstarter for his party.
“If Republican senators really cared about stopping stock trading by members, they wouldn’t have loaded it up with a poison pill voter ID bill, which Senate Democrats have defeated already twice, he said. “All they really want is to score political points before they head home to campaign.”
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