Today, in light of the House Administration Committee’s hearing on congressional stock trading, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand reiterated her call to pass legislation she authored to ban stock trading by senior government officials.
The No Stock Act, which Senator Gillibrand introduced earlier this year, would ban officials, including members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, the president, the vice president, and their immediate families, from holding or trading stocks and certain other financial assets.
“It’s simple: elected officials should be focused on your family’s financial security, not their own stock portfolios,” said Senator Gillibrand. “The current rules just aren’t cutting it when it comes to preventing conflicts of interest. I’m fighting to pass the No Stock Act – a straightforward bill that would stop members of Congress and their immediate families, as well as other senior government officials, from trading individual stocks. This is about common sense, ensuring fairness, and putting public service ahead of personal profit.”
Despite the passage of Senator Gillibrand’s STOCK Act in 2012 – which bars congressmembers from using insider information to buy and sell stocks – recent data indicates that one in three members of Congress traded stocks or other financial assets from 2019-2021, and over 3,700 of those trades posed potential conflicts of interest with their legislative responsibilities. Senator Gillibrand’s No Stock Act would help eliminate these conflicts of interest by banning stock trading for high-ranking government officials altogether.
Senator Gillibrand has been a champion for transparency and good government throughout her career. Aside from leading Senate passage of the STOCK Act in 2012, she was the first member of Congress to post a daily report listing her official meetings, personal financial disclosures, earmark requests, and taxes online. In 2023, she also introduced the bipartisan Ban Stock Trading for Government Officials Act, legislation that aimed to create stringent stock trading bans and disclosure requirements for Congress, senior executive branch officials, and their spouses and dependents.
The full text of the No Stock Act can be found here.
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