Are the rules followed?

The simplest rule that applies to Congress members who engage in any type of financial transaction is to report trades within 45 days.

18% of all stocks trades by the current Congress are reported outside the 45-day window.

The penalties they are supposed to incur include a $200 fine for the first-time offense and additional fines for subsequent offenses. However, even though this requirement has been violated thousands of times, there is no public record that anyone who has violated this portion of the STOCK Act has faced any type of penalty.

129 current Congress members have reported trades upwards of $1,000.

This amounted to 14,214 trades within the past 4 years by members of the current Congress. Through a conservative analysis, 1,697 of these trades are flagged as "questionable," meaning the Congress Person who traded that stock is currently on a Committee whose jurisdiction directly affects the industry that this company is in.

It should be noted, that by flagging trades based on Committee assignment, is does leave out some analysis as there are members, like Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy, who do not sit on any Committees but still have access to a lot of information as the ranking person in their respective house.

Of 535 members of Congress, nearly a quarter of them have reported trades over $1,000 in value. Of those 129 members, 58 of them have made trades that are potential conflicts of interest due to the Committees they are a part of.

An analysis done by Unusual Whales has shown that Congress consistently outperforms the market. The SPY stock is considered a good representation of performance of the market, as it has a mix of all company types. If the same amount of money had been invested in the SPY stock as compared to the other stocks that members of Congress were buying in 2022, Congress significantly outperformed the market.

How many current representatives are trading?

Congress Consistently Outperforms the Market

Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act

There have been three separate bills proposed to ban stock trading by members of Congress within the past year, two of which have been shut down. The latest one was introduced in late July and it is uncertain whether it will make it to the floor for debate or voting. This bill would require Congress Members, their spouses, and their dependent children to place their stocks into a blind trust or not trade altogether. Amid record low trust in the American government it is important that we increase our faith in our representatives.

Polls have consistently shown a majority of Americans support banning Congress stock trading altogether, with the most recent polls placing the support at 86% of the US population supporting this. So if so many people support it, why is getting shut down? The short answer Congress are the ones voting on whether Congress can trade.

However, Members of Congress are beholden to their constituents, so you DO have a say!