The House Administration Committee voted Wednesday, January 14, 2026, to advance Rep. Bryan Steil’s Stop Insider Trading Act, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. The bill would bar members of Congress and their spouses and dependent children from buying individual securities while in office, require public advance notice ahead of stock sales, and allow continued investing in diversified funds and dividend reinvestment, according to the bill text and accounts of the markup.
Republican Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, the chairman of the House Administration Committee, led a committee markup on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, on legislation titled the Stop Insider Trading Act.
The committee advanced the bill on a party-line vote of 7-4, with Republicans supporting it and Democrats opposing it, according to a statement from Rep. Mike Carey, a Republican member of the panel.
What the bill would do
As introduced on January 12, 2026, H.R. 7008 would prohibit “covered individuals”—including members of Congress and, under the bill’s definitions, their spouses and dependent children—from purchasing “covered investments,” which include individual securities.
The measure would also impose a public “notice of intent to sell” requirement: a member would have to disclose an intent to sell at least seven calendar days, and no more than 14 calendar days, before a sale.
The bill contains exceptions, including permitting investments in diversified vehicles such as index funds and mutual funds. It also allows dividend reinvestment into previously held securities—an allowance that became a focal point of debate during the markup.
Democratic objections and failed amendments
Democrats on the committee argued the proposal does not go far enough and pushed amendments aimed at tightening restrictions.
During the markup, Ranking Member Rep. Joe Morelle of New York proposed an amendment that would require full divestment for Congress as well as the president and vice president, according to The Daily Wire’s account of the proceedings.
Rep. Julie Johnson of Texas offered a similar proposal that would mandate full divestment without providing any relief from capital gains taxes, The Daily Wire reported.
Steil opposed those amendments, warning that mandatory divestment could create significant tax consequences for some lawmakers and could discourage successful private-sector candidates from running for office. “Under the amendment offered by our colleague from Texas, that [capital gains tax] would obviously continue to apply … [and] for some people that may be a very significant financial impact,” Steil said during the markup, according to The Daily Wire.
Morelle’s and Johnson’s divestment-related amendments did not pass.
After the committee rejected the divestment proposals, Rep. Norma Torres of California offered an amendment that would have removed the bill’s allowance for reinvesting dividends, arguing that dividend reinvestment is a form of stock trading and would leave lawmakers with an ongoing stake in individual companies. Torres’ office said the amendment would have barred members from reinvesting dividends and would have effectively “frozen” existing holdings. Republicans voted the amendment down, leaving the dividend-reinvestment provision intact.
Steil defended keeping dividend reinvestment permissible, saying dividend payments are typically scheduled in advance by companies and do not present the same insider-trading risk as discretionary trades. “Those dividends are structured within the company with advanced notice, outside of the control of any given member. It doesn’t carry the risk of insider trading,” he said, according to The Daily Wire.
Steil framed the legislation as a targeted effort to reduce the risk that lawmakers could profit from nonpublic information without requiring blanket divestment. “The focus here is to prevent members from being able to profit off of insider information — not to make elected officials poor,” he said, according to The Daily Wire.
Separately, Chris Josephs, the co-founder of the Autopilot investing app, told The Daily Wire in earlier comments that a full-divestment mandate could deter some business-minded candidates from seeking office.
The measure now awaits further action in the House. Congress.gov lists the bill as introduced and referred to the House Administration Committee, with the committee’s January 14 meeting posted on the committee’s website and Congress.gov’s committee video page.
