TPA Urges Lawmakers to End Congressional Stock Trading

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kara Zupkus (224) 456-0257

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) strongly urged Congress to pass the Stop Insider Trading Act (H.R. 7008), introduced last week by House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) The bill aims to restore public trust by prohibiting members of Congress, their spouses, and their dependent children from purchasing securities issued by publicly traded companies. Additionally, the legislation strengthens government accountability by implementing strict pre-sale disclosure requirements and establishing significant financial penalties for violations.

Ross Marchand, Executive Director of TPA, offered the following comment:

“For far too long, the American people have watched with outrage as their elected officials routinely beat the stock market with information completely inaccessible to all but a select few in Washington, D.C. Public service is a privilege and solemn duty, not an opportunity to make a quick buck nor a gateway to elite riches. When lawmakers have access to sensitive non-public information that can enrich or ruin entire industries, allowing them to trade individual stocks creates an undeniable conflict of interest that shatters public trust.

“The Stop Insider Trading Act provides the necessary and clear-cut boundaries that Washington desperately needs to end these conflicts of interest. By banning lawmakers and their immediate families from purchasing new individual stocks and forcing a strict transparency window on any existing asset sales, this bill closes the massive loopholes that have allowed Capitol Hill to operate on a different set of rules than regular Americans. Taxpayers deserve to know that the individuals writing America’s laws are focused on the economy, not padding their own personal stock portfolios.

“It is time to rein in congressional stock trading once and for all, establish meaningful penalties for those who abuse their positions, and prove to the American public that their representatives are in Washington, D.C. to serve the people, not themselves.”

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The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis, and dissemination of information on the government’s impact on the economy.