Seth teams up with hyper-MAGA Texas Republican
The Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust (TRUST) in Congress Act would reduce opportunities for insider trading by requiring Members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children to either divest from individual stock holdings or move their investments into a qualified blind trust during their entire tenure in Congress. This will prevent Members of Congress from profiting off of their positions through their access to nonpublic information.
“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 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. Spanberger back in 2020,” said Representative Chip 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 it 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 TRUST in Congress Act was originally introduced by Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) and former Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) in 2020.
The TRUST in Congress Act will:
· Require
all current Members of Congress, their spouses, and their dependent children to
divest from certain investment assets or place them 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.
· The requirement would apply to the following types of investments: a security (including, but not limited to stocks and bonds), commodity, future, or any comparable economic interest acquired through synthetic means such as the use of a derivative.
The bipartisan legislation is cosponsored by 454 Members of Congress — the largest number of original cosponsors since the bill was first introduced in 2020 — including co-lead Rep. Chip Roy [R-TX-21] and Reps. Alma Adams [D-NC-12]; Don Beyer, [D-VA-8]; Greg Casar [D-TX-35]; Juan Ciscomani [R-AZ-6]; Emanuel Cleaver [D-MO-5]; Angie Craig [D-MN-2]; Elijah Crane [R-AZ-2]; Jason Crow [D-CO-6]; Sharice Davids [D-KS-3]; Suzan K. DelBene [D-WA-1]; Christopher R. Deluzio [D-PA-17]; Robert Garcia [D-CA-42]; Jared F. Golden [D-ME-2]; Josh Gottheimer [D-NJ-5]; Chrissy Houlahan [D-PA-6]; Jared Huffman [D-CA-2]; Dusty Johnson [R-SD-At Large]; William R. Keating [D-MA-9]; Young Kim [R-CA-40]; Greg Landsman [D-OH-1]; Michael Lawler [R-NY-17]; Teresa Leger Fernandez [D-NM-3]; Mike Levin [D-CA-49]; Nancy Mace[R-SC-1]; Rep. Ryan Mackenzie [R-PA-07]; Betty McCollum [D-MN-4]; Frank J. Mrvan [D-IN-1]; Gregory F. Murphy [R-NC-3]; Jerrold Nadler [D-NY-12]; Joe Neguse [D-CO-2]; Eleanor Holmes Norton [D-DC-At Large]; Marie Gluesenkamp Perez [D-WA-3]; Scott Perry [R-PA-10]; Brittany Pettersen [D-CO-7]; Mark Pocan [D-WI-2]; Andrea Salinas [D-OR-6]; Mikie Sherrill [D-NJ-11]; Eric Sorensen [D-IL-17]; Greg Stanton [D-AZ-4]; Hayley Stevens [D-MI-11]; Dina Titus [D-NV-1]; Paul Tonko [D-NY-20]; Gabe Vasquez [D-NM-2]; and Nikema Williams [D-GA-5].
The TRUST in Congress Act is endorsed by several key advocacy and government accountability organizations across the political spectrum, including Public Citizen, Project on Government Oversight (POGO), End Citizens United (ECU) Action Fund, CREW, Protect Democracy, Americans for Prosperity, National Taxpayers Union, Fix the Court, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Government Accountability Project, and Issue One.
The full bill text can be found here.
