Congressman Krishnamoorthi Leads Bipartisan Coalition In Announcing a Consensus Initial Framework to Reform Member Stock Trading Practices, Requests Floor Vote by September 30th

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi and eight other members who have led a range of related proposals to ban stock trading by members of Congress sent a letter to House leadership and the Chairwoman and Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration, calling for a vote on reform by September 30^th while outlining a list of first principles that should be included in any upcoming legislation on the issue.

"We the undersigned, including Reps. Craig (D-MN), Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Golden (D-ME), Kim (D-NJ), Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Neguse (D-CO), Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Porter (D-CA), and Spanberger (D-VA), have introduced and championed various strong proposals to end insider trading by Members of Congress," the Members wrote. "As the leaders on this issue in Congress, we urge you to heed the following bipartisan principles and work with our offices to ensure any bill being considered on this issue is as strong as possible and also has the votes to pass both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate."

The letter urges leaders from both parties to ensure reform legislation coming to the floor adheres to the following principles:

1. Covers all Members of Congress, their spouses, and dependents under 18.
2. Prohibits covered persons from owning or trading securities, commodities, futures, derivatives, options, or other similar financial assets, including where such investments are traded through an investment vehicle that the covered person controls.
3. Requires covered persons to either:
   1. Divest prohibited investments within 120 days of the effective date;
   2. Place such investments in a Qualified Blind Trust; or
   3. Diversify such investments by placing them in widely held, diversified mutual or exchange-traded funds, or U.S. Treasury bills, notes, or bonds.
4. For purposes of this bill, Qualified Blind Trusts must be truly blind.
5. Stipulates clear enforcement mechanisms and penalties that are sufficient to ensure Member compliance.
6. Omits any gimmicks, carveouts, or exemptions that undercut the purpose of this legislation.
7. Does not delay the effective date beyond what is reasonably necessary to implement the bill.

In the letter, the Members also note their authorship and leading roles on previously introduced Congressional stock trading reform legislation that has paved the way to current negotiations:

Collectively, we have introduced nearly all of the bills in Congress on this issue, including H.R.1579, the Ban Conflicted Trading Act, H.R.336, the TRUST in Congress Act, H.R. 6678, the Bipartisan Ban on Congressional Stock Ownership Act, H.R. 6694, the STOCK Act 2.0, H.Res. 873, the No Option for Stock Trading and Ownership as a Check to Keep Congress Clean Resolution, and H.R. 6844, the Restoring Trust in Public Servants Act. However, in the service of our constituents and to restore trust in our public institutions, we are working together to synthesize our respective legislation into a single, bipartisan legislative framework, and as part of that work, we have established a set of shared principles that have guided our own efforts to find consensus and develop a broader legislative framework.

To read the full letter, click here.