Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) filed a discharge petition on Tuesday in an attempt to bypass House Republican leadership to force a vote on a bill to prohibit stock trading for members of Congress and their immediate family members.
Luna had long warned that she would file such a petition if leaders did not move fast enough to advance stock ban legislation. “We have decided because of a lack of movement from the House of Representatives to initiate the discharge petition on banning insider trading,” Luna said in a video posted to social media. “If leadership wants to put forward a bill that would actually do that and end the corruption, we’re all for it.”
The petition aims to force a vote on the Restore Trust in Congress Act, a bipartisan bill unveiled earlier this year that would require members to divest their holdings or put them in a blind trust. Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.), the lead sponsors of the bill, said in a joint statement: “The clock is now running. If leadership does not move quickly to put forward a strong ban on congressional stock trading, the members of the body will act.”
This reform is long overdue, and with the bill’s bipartisan support, there’s a strong chance it will pass the House if it can get past Speaker Mike Johnson, who appears to oppose it. Public backing is also overwhelmingly clear: roughly 80% of Americans reject the idea of members of Congress engaging in insider trading. And while the bill would also extend restrictions to lawmakers’ family members, it notably exempts the President and Vice President, an omission that could incentivize Trump to sign it. It’s also worth noting that more than 20 members of Congress nearly doubled last year’s S&P 500 average gain of 24.9%, with the top performers spanning both Democrats and Republicans.
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