Movement to BAN lawmakers from cashing in on stock trades hit with 'poison pill' setback

By VICTORIA CHURCHILL, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 15:43, 23 July 2026 | Updated: 15:49, 23 July 2026 The US House of Representatives has passed a bill to limit what lawmakers can do when buying and selling stocks.   Members of both parties have previously advocated similar proposals, but only 13 Democrats joined all Republicans to pass the Stop Insider Trading Act on Wednesday evening. The legislation passed with a margin of 232 to 198. Before the vote, a proposal to add voter ID requirements was tacked on to the bill, which is a part of President Donald Trump's signature election integrity legislation, the SAVE American Act. The voter ID addition was described as a 'poison pill' by New York Democrat Representative Joseph Morelle, and is something that could kill the bill in the upper chamber on Capitol Hill. In the Senate, the proposal faces an uncertain fate as a vote on the legislation has not yet been scheduled. The House is scheduled to head back to its districts for the August recess at the end of this week, and the Senate still has one week remaining in DC before the break.  The Senate previously passed its own stock trading ban, which is more comprehensive than the current House bill due to the inclusion of a ban on the president and vice president of the US from trading stocks. Led by Missouri Republican Josh Hawley, the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act - named after former Speaker Nancy Pelosi who has reported a prolific amount of trading disclosures during her time in office - would ban lawmakers from trading or holding stocks.  Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, pictured alongside her husband Paul, has been one of the most prolific stock traders in Congress during her tenure Traders work on the floor at the closing bell of the Dow Industrial Average at the New York Stock Exchange in January of 2019 As part of a deal to gain Democratic support, Hawley agreed to rename the measure from the PELOSI Act to the HONEST Act. The measure passed the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee before the August recess last summer, but never received a vote in the full Senate. 'We've worked on this for years, and it's really simple. It bans members of Congress from trading stock. It's not that hard,' Hawley said of his bill last year, before President Trump came out against the measure in full force. 'I don't think real Republicans want to see their president, who has had unprecedented success, targeted, because of the 'whims' of a second-tier Senator named Josh Hawley!,' Trump noted at the time.