On Wednesday, Rep. Chip Roy (TX-21) and Rep. Seth Magaziner (RI-1) announced the bipartisan reintroduction of the TRUST in Congress Act to ban Members of Congress and their families from engaging in insider trading.
“The American people should have faith that Congress is at work for the good of the country, not for their own bank accounts. For years I have been working to address the problem of stock trading in Congress, first introducing the bipartisan TRUST in Congress Act with Rep. Abigail Spanberger back in 2020,” said Representative Roy. “Now that Abigail has retired, I am proud to reintroduce this critical and bipartisan legislation alongside my friend Rep. Magaziner (D-RI). We have a long road ahead to address this Congress, but we can and should fix the problem during this term. We have the will and the mandate of the American people to do this. Let’s deliver.”
The Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust (TRUST) in Congress Act would require Members of Congress, their spouses, and dependents to place certain investment assets into a qualified blind trust while serving in office. That way, Representatives and Senators cannot leverage their power as public servants to line their pockets.
“Trust in Congress is at an all time low, but we can strengthen the integrity of our government by ensuring Members of Congress are serving their constituents and not their stock portfolios,” said Rep. Seth Magaziner. “I am proud to introduce this bipartisan, commonsense bill with Representative Chip Roy to ban Members of Congress — and their families — from trading individual stocks, so that we can hold Washington accountable to the people it serves.”
The bipartisan TRUST in Congress Act has been endorsed by many key advocacy and government accountability organizations, including the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), National Taxpayers Union, Public Citizen, Protect Democracy, Government Accountability Project, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Issue One, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and Americans for Prosperity.
Specifically, the TRUST in Congress Act would:
- Require all Members of Congress, and their spouses and dependent children, to put certain investment assets into a qualified blind trust within 180 days after the enactment of this legislation. New Members of Congress, and their spouses and dependent children, would be required to place covered investments into a qualified blind trust within 90 days of assuming office. Affected individuals can remove assets from the blind trust 180 days after the Member leaves Congress.
- Require all Members to either 1) certify to the Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate that they have established a blind trust to include covered investments or 2) certify to the Clerk or the Secretary that they do not own any covered investments. The status of these certifications would be made publicly available by the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate.
- Define covered investments as the following: a security, commodity, future, or any comparable economic interest acquired through synthetic means such as the use of a derivative.
- Clarify that the following do not qualify as covered investments for the purpose of this bill: a widely held investment fund (such as a mutual fund) or a U.S. Treasury bill, note, or bond. These investments would not have to be placed in a blind trust.
This bipartisan bill was co-led by Rep. Seth Magaziner (RI-2), and cosponsored by Reps. Alma Adams (NC-12), Don Beyer (VA-8), Greg Casar (TX-35), Juan Ciscomani (AZ-6), Emanuel Cleaver (MO-5). Angie Craig (MN-2), Elijah Crane (AZ-2), Jason Crow (CO-6), Sharice Davids (KS-3), Suzan DelBene (WA-1), Christopher Deluzio (PA-17), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Jared Golden (ME-2), Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-6), Jared Huffman (CA-2), Dusty Johnson (SD-AL), William Keating (MA-9), Young Kim (CA-40), Greg Landsman (OH-1), Michael Lawler (NY-17), Teresa Fernandez (NM-3), Mike Levin (CA-49), Nancy Mace (SC-1), Betty McCollum (MN-4), Frank Mrvan (IN-1), Gregory Murphy (NC-3), Jerrod Nadler (NY-12), Joe Neguse (CO-2), Eleanor Norton (DC-AL), Marie Glusenkamp Perez (WA-3), Scott Perry (PA-10), Brittany Pettersen (CO-7), Mark Pocan (WI-2), Andrea Salinas (OR-6), Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11), Eric Sorensen (IL-17), Greg Stanton (AZ-4), Hayley Stevens (MI-11), Dina Titus (NV-11), Paul Tonko (NY-20), Gabe Vasquez (NM-2), and Nikema Williams (GA-5).
Full text of the legislation is available here.
