‘Stop Insider Trading Act’ gets approval from U.S. House, heads to Senate

By: Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) -- The “Stop Insider Trading Act” was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday.

House Resolution 7008 – which includes Missouri Republican Reps. Mark Alford and Ann Wagner on the long list of cosponsors – would ban members of Congress, their spouses and their dependent child from buying publicly traded stocks. It would also require those people to give public notice before selling their stocks.

“Between 7 and 14 days before a Member or a covered spouse or dependent sells a covered investment, the relevant Member must file public notice of the intent to sell with the Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate, as appropriate. The Clerk or Secretary must publish this notice online. If the individual decides not to sell the covered investment, the notice must be withdrawn,” the bill language says.

The resolution now heads to the Senate. A similar bill had support last year from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO). Alford supported the bill’s passage in a statement that was sent to media.

“Public service is a privilege, not a pathway to personal profit,” Alford was quoted in the release. “The American people deserve confidence that their representatives are making decisions based on what is best for the country, not what benefits their personal portfolios.”

Voting on the bill was mostly split along party lines, with 218 Republicans, 13 Democrats and one independent voting in support, according to the CSPAN tally.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, had expressed in a Tuesday social media post that she would vote against the measure.

“Republicans are trying to pull a trick this week. They say we are voting on an “insider trading” bill, but have snuck in massive SAVE Act-style voter suppression measures to it,” her post says. “This is a GOP effort to sabotage national mail-in voting, disguised as a trading ban.”