What the House bill does
The bill is called the Stop Insider Trading Act, and its lead sponsor is House Administration Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis. (>Fortune/AP). Here is what the reporting says it covers.
| Provision | What it says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Who is covered | Members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children | >Roll Call |
| New purchases | Banned for individual stocks | >Roll Call |
| Existing holdings | Can be kept | >Roll Call |
| Sales | Allowed with public notice at least 7 and no more than 14 days in advance | >Roll Call |
| Exemptions | Widely held investment funds; certain investments held in a trust | >Fortune/AP |
| Penalties | Ethics-panel fee of $2,000 or 10% of the transaction value, whichever is greater, plus the net gain | >Roll Call |
| President and VP | Not covered | >Fortune/AP |
The vote was mostly along party lines. Just 13 Democrats voted in favor (>Roll Call).
Two things made the vote contentious. Republicans attached an unrelated requirement for photo voter ID in federal elections. Rep. Joseph Morelle, D-N.Y., called that provision a "poison pill." Critics also said the bill falls short because members keep the stocks they own and can still sell them. "It's a terrible bill. It doesn't ban stock trading in Congress or anywhere else," said Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I. (>Roll Call).
Supporters hailed it as the most significant congressional action yet to restrict members' stock trades, per >Fortune/AP. "If you want to day trade, there's a place for that. It's called Wall Street," Steil said on the floor.
Where the Senate stands
The bill's path in the Senate is uncertain. Every report we reviewed says so.
- The Senate version's lead sponsor, Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., urged colleagues to take it up. A stricter bill aimed at blocking member stock ownership cleared the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last year but has since stalled (>Roll Call).
- The voter ID language is the main obstacle. Majority Leader John Thune has repeatedly said Republicans don't have the votes to change the filibuster, per >ABC News.
- Ricketts said he would prefer the ban move as a standalone bill, arguing it would have a better chance of bipartisan support in the Senate (>KLIN).
None of the sources we reviewed gives an effective date. Until the Senate acts and the bill is signed, current disclosure rules stay in place.
What changes for congress trade trackers
Today, lawmakers disclose trades over $1,000 within 45 days under the 2012 STOCK Act (>Money), and they report value ranges instead of exact amounts (>CNN via Yahoo Finance). Here is how the House bill would change what a tracker shows. The right-hand column is our reading of the bill's reported terms.
| What a tracker shows | Today | If the House bill became law |
|---|---|---|
| New stock buys by members and spouses | Disclosed up to 45 days later | Should disappear, since new purchases are banned |
| Stock sales | Disclosed after the fact | Announced 7 to 14 days before the sale |
| Widely held funds | Current rules | Exempt from the purchase ban |
| Trades by the president or VP | Outside this bill | Still outside this bill |
Three practical effects follow.
1. The "buy" signal goes away. Most copy-trading starts with a lawmaker's purchase. If members cannot buy new stocks, that input stops. Pelosi's retirement already removes the most-watched account from 2027.
2. Sales become forward-looking. A 7-to-14-day public notice before a sale is new information. Today a tracker tells you a lawmaker sold weeks ago. Under the bill, you would know about a sale before it happens.
3. Copy-Congress ETFs face a changed input. NANC and GOP were built to follow lawmakers' disclosed trades (>CNN via Yahoo Finance). The bill would leave them with sales and legacy holdings to follow. How the funds would adapt is not addressed in any source we reviewed.
One more point. Fortune reports that President Trump disclosed more than 3,600 buy and sell orders in the first quarter of 2026 (>Fortune/AP). Those trades sit outside this bill, which is one reason Democrats opposed it.
How to use it on the Loomi.Ai Desk
The Desk's Congress trade tracker covers "every disclosed buy and sell by sitting members of Congress," with Nancy Pelosi included, "pulled straight from the official House and Senate filings and put on your desk the day it drops" (>Loomi.Ai Desk). The Desk FAQ lists "the Congress trade tracker" as part of the $8 membership.
- Watch buys while they still exist. Until a ban becomes law, members can still buy new stocks, and those disclosures keep landing in the tracker.
- Watch sells either way. The tracker already covers sells. If the House bill became law, sales would come with 7 to 14 days of public notice, so the order of events could change. How that notice would be published is not described in the sources we reviewed.
- Keep the 45-day gap in mind. "The day it drops" means the day the filing is published. Under today's rules, the trade inside it can be up to 45 days old.
- Compare with other disclosed buying. The Desk's "reported insider buying" lens tracks a separate disclosure set that this bill does not touch.
Desk membership is $8/mo intro, then $20/mo.
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FAQ
Did Congress ban stock trading? Not yet. The House passed a bill on July 22, 2026, that bans members, spouses and dependent children from buying new stocks. It still needs to pass the Senate and be signed (>Roll Call).
Can members of Congress still sell stock under the bill? Yes. They can keep existing stocks and sell them after giving public notice at least 7 and no more than 14 days in advance.
Does the ban cover the president? No. The House bill does not extend to the president or vice president (>Fortune/AP).
Will congress stock trackers still work? Current disclosure rules stay in place until a bill becomes law. If this one passes, trackers would show sale notices and holdings instead of new stock purchases.
Loomi.Ai provides educational market research, not financial advice. Legislative outcomes are uncertain, and nothing here predicts how the Senate will act.
Sources
- >Congressional stock-trading bill passes the House, Roll Call (July 22, 2026)
- >The Republican-controlled House just passed a stock trading bill — that exempts Trump's 3,600 Q1 trades, Fortune / The Associated Press (July 23, 2026)
- >House passes bill that would ban members from buying stock, ABC News (July 22, 2026)
- >Ricketts Pushes Congressional Stock Trading Ban, Addresses Immigration and Foreign Policy, KLIN News/Talk 1400 (July 23, 2026)
- >Congress Stock Tracker: Here's What the Most Active Traders Bought to Start 2026, Money (Feb. 13, 2026)
- >With Nancy Pelosi retiring, stock traders who copy her investments need to find a new hero, CNN via Yahoo Finance (Nov. 6, 2025)
- >Loomi.Ai Desk, Loomi.Ai (fetched Sept. 24, 2026)