Lawmakers caught in controversy as congressional stock trading debate rages on

Members of Congress are on a summer stock shopping spree — and still violating a financial disclosure law — amid a reinvigorated movement to ban congressional stock trading.

Three members of the House of Representatives appear to have violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act this week by filing required reports late — some as much as two years past a federally mandated deadline.

From Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), more than a dozen other members of Congress continue trading stocks and securities, even in the immediate two weeks after the Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act passed out of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security.

The bill has yet to be voted on by either the House or Senate in order to be sent to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law, but its bipartisan co-sponsors call the committee vote “strong bipartisan momentum” toward a stock trading ban.

Continuing epidemic of violations

The latest STOCK Act violators appear to be Reps. David Joyce (R-OH), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Stephen Lynch (D-MA), who join a list of more than 50 members of the 118th Congress who Raw Story has found to have violated the STOCK Act.

Joyce reported on Aug. 6 a dozen stock transactions after the 45-day deadline required in the STOCK Act for disclosing most purchases, sales and exchanges of stocks, bonds, commodity futures, securities and cryptocurrencies.

Three of the transactions date back to July 2022, reported nearly two years late, and the rest are from June 2023, reported a year late. The transactions are valued between $138,012 and $495,000 total. (Lawmakers are only required by law to disclose the values of their transactions in broad ranges.)

Investments include stock in aerospace corporation Boeing, multinational investment bank Citigroup, private credit manager Golub Capital and energy company TC Energy Corporation. Some investments are part of a trust, others from a retirement account.

Moskowitz disclosed on Aug. 6 more than 60 stock transactions from an account for a dependent child. Ten of those transactions were from February 2024, reported nearly five months late.

The tardy stocks include investments in companies ranging from health insurance provider Elevance Health to personal care multinational corporation Kimberly-Clark to footwear giant Nike and manufacturing company Snap-on. The value of the 60 investments are each in the $1,001 to $15,000 range.

Lynch reported on Aug. 7 six sale transactions and one purchase for mutual funds as part of a retirement account, disclosed three weeks late. The transactions’ values ranged between $397,007 and $930,000 total.

Lynch was previously three months late reporting the sale of VMware stock as part of an individual retirement account that underwent a “forced sale” when the company was acquired.

The congressional offices for Joyce, Moskowitz and Lynch did not immediately respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Who is trading stocks? And who is pushing for a ban?

The ETHICS Act calls for an immediate ban on members of Congress buying stocks and would prohibit them from selling stocks 90 days after enactment. Members’ spouses and dependent children would be prohibited from trading stocks starting in March 2027, which is when the president and vice president would also be required to divest from covered investments.

Covered assets include securities, commodities, futures, options and trusts. Congressional staff members would be allowed to continue trading stocks under this bill as would legislators' non-dependent children.

“Lawmakers like me, we're kind of like umpires in a baseball game. We call balls and strikes, and you definitely don't let umpires bet on the outcome of the game, because the public needs to know the umpires are calling balls and strikes fair,” said Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), a co-sponsor of the ETHICS Act, in an Aug. 7 video posted on X. “Members of Congress are making decisions every day that impact the stock market, that impact businesses and industries, and we receive confidential information on big events that are coming.”

Ossoff co-sponsored an amended version of the ETHICS Act alongside Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Gary Peters (D-MI) and Josh Hawley (R-MO). The bill passed out of a Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs markup on July 24 with an eight to four vote, despite Republican senators divided on how to proceed.

The same day Georgia Republicans Greene and Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) disclosed stock transactions.

Greene reported six stock purchases on July 24, each valued between $1,001 and $15,000. She also disclosed the purchase of U.S. Treasury bills valued between $250,0001 and $500,000.

A little over a week later, she reported on Aug. 2 purchasing more Treasury bills, with a value between $100,001 and $250,000.

Carter reported on July 24 four partial stock sales in Ameris Bancorp, each valued between $100,001 and $250,000.

Greene and Carter’s congressional offices did not respond to emailed questions by the time of publication.

The next day, Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) reported the June 28 purchase of stock in real estate investment company, Simon Property Group, as a part of her husband’s Roth IRA, valued between $50,001 and $100,000.

“These are just stocks that Congresswoman's husband had in his retirement account before she was elected to Congress,” Kristi Risk, chief of staff for Spartz, told Raw Story via email. “He was just reinvesting his dividends back into the same stock.”

Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) reported on July 29 the sale of stock in boat dealer, OneWater Marine Inc., as part of a joint account. Value: $1,001 to $15,000. Britt’s congressional office did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Pelosi reported on July 30 two stock transactions from her husband, who is a prolific trader. When she was House Speaker, Pelosi was one of the biggestobstacles to previous stock ban bills advancing.

Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, sold 5,000 shares in Microsoft valued between $1 million and $5 million, and he purchased 10,000 shares in artificial intelligence leader Nvidia, also valued between $1 million and $5 million.

“Speaker Pelosi does not own any stocks, and she has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions,” said Ian Krager, a spokesperson for Pelosi, via email.

Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) disclosed three stock transactions on July 31, each valued up to $15,000. His spouse sold stock in Royal Bank of Canada and shipping company, United Parcel Service, and Burgess reported his own purchase of additional stock in Royal Bank of Canada.

While Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) does not buy and sell stocks, he did report sales of ownership interest in Outsell, Inc, a “developer of consumer engagement technologies for the automotive industry,” according to the Aug. 1 disclosure report. The sales were valued between just over $1 million and $5 million, total.

"Congressman Phillips is one of a very small number of lawmakers to have voluntary established a qualified blind trust for his finances. He has no view of or direction over his investments," Sam Anderson, communications director for Phillips, told Raw Story via email. "That long, complicated, process took significant personal effort and expense, but it’s one he believes should be rule – not the exception – in Congress."

Phillips, who ran as a Democrat for president in the 2024 race, is an original co-sponsor of the TRUST in Congress Act. The bill, authored by Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and Chip Roy (R-TX), would require members of Congress and their families to put investment assets into blind trusts during their time in office and ban them from trading individual stocks.

Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) reported on Aug. 2 his spouse’s sale of a UBS corporate bond valued between $15,001 and $50,000. Carper filed a timely disclosure this time but was previously late three times in reporting stock trades and U.S. Treasury bill purchases.

Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) reported on Aug. 3 the sale and purchase of U.S. Treasury bills. Each transaction was valued between $250,001 and $500,000.

The congressional spokespeople for Burgess, Carper and Meuser did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Peters, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee and co-sponsor of the latest ETHICS Act bipartisan agreement, reported two stock sales on Aug. 5. Each trade was valued between $1,001 and $15,000 and were investments in elevator manufacturer, Otis Worldwide Corp., and heating and air conditioning corporation, Carrier.

“Sen. Peters has always been transparent about his trades and follows the requirements of the STOCK Act, which is the current law,” a Peters aide, who declined to be named, told Raw Story.

“He negotiated a bipartisan agreement to update the ETHICS Act, and led the historic passage of that bill out of committee on July 24 – the first time a Senate committee has ever voted to advance legislation that would ban stock trading for members of Congress,” the aide continued. “Sen. Peters is continuing to work to get the amended ETHICS Act passed and signed into law to establish new requirements for all members of Congress.

Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) reported on Aug. 5 two stock transactions involving tech giant Apple, valued between $15,001 and $50,000 each.

Rep. Rudy Yakym (R-IN) has not reported any stock transactions, but disclosed on Aug. 5 his purchase of Treasury bills valued between $15,001 and $50,000.

Yakym and Lee’s congressional spokespeople did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) reported on Aug. 5 a purchase of shares in soda giant Coca-Cola, valued between $1,001 and $15,001, which is “solely the automatic reinvestment of dividends on securities that my wife inherited, rather than taking the dividends in cash,” Doggett told Raw Story via email.

Doggett said he does not trade individual stocks, “nor have the holdings of these few stocks impacted my work, as indicated by my vocal advocacy demanding that large corporations and the wealthiest few pay their fair share of taxes.”

The congressman said the New York Times chose to exclude him from an investigation into congressional stock trading since he does not actively trade individual stocks.

Doggett said he supports a congressional stock trading ban, including the efforts of Oregon senator Merkley through the ETHICS Act, and “would likely support similar legislation in the House.”

Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA) reported on Aug. 6 two government securities transactions in Texas and New York through a joint trust, each valued between $500,001 and $1 million.

“Government securities are generally considered safe investments,” Nick Martin, a spokesperson for DelBene, told Raw Story via email. “The congresswoman supports banning members from trading stocks and is a co-sponsor of the TRUST in Congress Act (H.R. 345), which would do that.”

DelBene has a complex financial situation due to her husband’s significant investments from his time as a senior executive at Microsoft. DelBene was previously late disclosing two sales of vested Microsoft shares totaling between $1.25 million and $5.5 million, but she previously disclosed her family's s Microsoft stock investments on her annual disclosures and a 2022 periodic transaction report, providing details of a forward contract her husband enacted before being confirmed as the assistant secretary for information and technology in the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) reported four stock purchases on Aug. 6, each valued between $1,001 and $15,000. Three stock purchases were for chemical tankers company, Ardmore Shipping Corporation, and one was in investment adviser, Ellington Financial Inc.

Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) reported on Aug. 6 five joint stock transactions, each in the $1,001 to $15,000 range. Stock transactions included investments in Alphabet, the parent company of Google, telecommunications company, Motorola Solutions, and semiconductor company, Lam Research.

Boozman previously appeared to be in violation of the STOCK Act twice with late disclosures of U.S. Treasury bond transactions. with a disclosure filed on Aug. 21, 2023, a day past the 45-day disclosure deadline.

Foxx and Boozman’s congressional offices did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.