Senators are again squabbling over whether members of Congress should be allowed to buy, sell, and own stocks while they write and vote on legislation that affects their investments.
On Wednesday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee advanced a bill that would ban members of Congress, the president, and the vice president from trading, or owning, individual stocks and other types of investments. Sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), the bill originally applied just to members of Congress, but as part of a compromise with Democrats on the committee, was expanded to cover presidents and vice presidents—with a catch. The bill's divestment requirements for officials were pushed back to take effect at the end of their current term—thereby excluding the assets of President Donald Trump, as this is his last term as president. After the carve-out for Trump, the bill narrowly advanced from committee, with Hawley as its lone Republican "aye" vote.
The bill, newly titled the HONEST Act, faces a steep climb in the Senate, with several Republicans expressing their displeasure. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), chair of the Senate Ethics Committee and a member of leadership as vice chair of the Republican Conference, clashed with Hawley during the hearing and later panned the bill.
Meanwhile, Trump’s public position on the bill—which he said in April he would "absolutely" sign, when it applied only to members of Congress—has swung over the past day. First, the president withheld his opinion, then lambasted Hawley and the bill on his social media platform yesterday afternoon after the vote, which Hawley said was due to a misunderstanding over whether it would affect him. Today, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump “conceptually” supports the bill’s goals.
Here’s a look at what’s in the latest Senate bill grappling with lawmakers’ stock trading, and how it compares with stronger and weaker bills that have been introduced in recent years—and which still haven't received a full vote in the House or Senate.
The bill was approved 8-7, with all Democrats on the committee voting for it and all Republicans other than Hawley voting against it. In July 2024, a narrower bill banning stock trading by members of Congress was passed from the same Senate committee, then under a Democratic majority that hailed it as a “historic step,” but the measure expired without receiving a full Senate vote.
