Stock information superimposed on a photo of the United States Capitol. (Photo: Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — House Republicans have passed a measure to restrict stock trading by members of Congress attached to an unrelated voter ID bill, part of President Donald Trump’s effort to get significant federal involvement in elections.
The act was adopted by a majority of votes 232-198. All Republicans and 13 Democrats voted in favor of the ballot measure.
The bill may face difficulties in the narrowly divided Senate, where it needs 60 votes to pass. Republicans control the upper house of 53 members to Democrats’ 47 members.
The House accepted Billsponsored by Rep. Bryan Steil, D-Wis., would require voters to present a current state-issued driver’s license or ID card, passport, valid military or veteran ID, or tribal government-issued ID in order to vote.
The primary bill, the Stop Insider Trading Act, would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses and immediate family members from purchasing certain stocks and would require public notice and a waiting period before selling stock.
Violators may be subject to a penalty of $2,000 or 10% of the transaction value, whichever is greater, plus the net profit earned on the transaction during the specified period.
The bill would regulate investments issued by listed companies. Certain investments, including broadly held mutual funds and investments held in unit trusts, would be exempt. Transactions by a spouse or dependent made on behalf of another person or as part of an employee benefits package would also be exempt.
Voter ID
However, during the debate on this measure this week, the voter identification bill received the most attention.
Under the bill, if a voter does not have any of the listed forms of physical identification, state election officials may issue a provisional ballot. The voter would then have three days to provide accepted identification or a sworn statement that the voter does not have such identification due to religious objection to being photographed.
Additionally, state officials would be prohibited from accepting absentee ballots unless the voter includes a copy of a valid form of identification, the last four digits of their Social Security number with a sworn statement that they cannot obtain a photo ID, or a notarized statement that the voter completed the ballot in person.
During Monday’s debate on the bill in the House Rules Committee, Democrats criticized Republicans for removing a state grant provision from part of the bill that would have covered the individual costs of voters purchasing ID cards.
Democrats also described the bill as going beyond state laws in Florida and Wisconsin, which are considered some of the strictest in the country.
From April 2025 36 states According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, some form of voter ID law was in place, although they vary in restrictions.
Rep. Joe Neguse, R-Colo., asked Steil why Wisconsin law allows some university IDs at polling places when its federal law does not.
“Many of your constituents from the various colleges and universities you represent… are currently complying with what others have described as the most stringent voter ID law in the country using their college ID. Yet their congressman is advocating for a bill that would tell them they can no longer do that,” Neguse said.
“Great question,” Steil replied. “Universities all over the country, including my home state, are issuing ID cards to foreigners, they are issuing ID cards to illegal immigrants.”
Not as restrictive as the SAVE America Act
Attaching voter ID provisions to a bill restricting lawmakers’ stock trading appears to be a compromise between Republicans and the president’s desire for a more restrictive bill that has little or no chance of gaining congressional approval.
Trump is pushing Republicans to pass an even broader federal election regulation bill called the SAVE America Act. This bill would require additional documents, such as passports and birth certificates, to register to vote. Critics say it would upend the state’s management of elections.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-D., warned there were not enough votes in the Senate to pass Trump’s preferred bill.
The president promoted the legislation in a primetime speech on July 16 declassified evidence he believed showed China attempted to interfere in the 2020 election.
Experts say the leaked documents do not support Trump’s claims, and critics saw the speech as an attempt to undermine the president’s confidence in the upcoming November midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, D-La., praised the stock trading and voter ID bill on Tuesday, saying “probably more than 9 in 10 Americans support both measures.” Johnson also said House Republicans “will continue to criticize” Trump’s message on the election.
Dems object
House Democratic leaders urged members to vote “no” on the bill because it would allow lawmakers and close family members to continue buying and selling stocks.
Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pennsylvania, said Americans have “already had” stock trading by federal lawmakers.
“They’ve had enough of this. Congress must enact a comprehensive ban on members of Congress, as well as the president, vice president and their family members, from owning or trading individual stocks or engaging in other financial transactions,” Scanlon said Monday.
Scanlon amendment to replace GOP-sponsored stock trading bill with text of Rhode Island Democrat Seth Magaziner’s more restrictive bill Billcalled the Restoring Confidence in Government Act, it failed. Magaziner’s bill also includes restrictions on the president, vice president and their families.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., characterized the House-passed bill on Tuesday as a “bogus stock trading ban.”
“I want to be clear: Their bill does not block insider trading, no matter what it is called,” Jayapal said.
They also opposed the voter identification part.
According to an email that House Minority Whip Katherine Clark sent to members before Wednesday’s vote, the measure would “functionally eliminate the ability to vote by mail by forcing Americans to include photocopies of their IDs with their mailed ballots.”
Additionally, Clark, a Democrat from Massachusetts, decried the bill’s “narrow set of acceptable photo IDs for casting a ballot in federal elections.”
The Congressional Black Caucus issued a statement on Tuesday condemning the bill.
“House Republicans are not serious about enacting a significant ban on stock trading in Congress,” the Democratic-leaning group said. “A combined Stop Insider Trading Act and Voter ID Act – which includes provisions of the voter suppression so-called SAVE America Act – would allow members of Congress to continue to own, sell, and in some cases purchase individual stocks while imposing more stringent voter ID requirements, making it more difficult for millions of eligible Americans to vote, including by mail.”
