WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday narrowly passed legislation that would limit stock trading by members of Congress, moving months ahead of the midterm elections to address a practice that has stoked public outrage and bipartisan calls for change.

But nearly all Democrats opposed the measure after Republicans added a federal voter ID requirement to the bill, bowing to President Donald Trump’s demands to impose new restrictions on voting and lining up a talking point they could use against Democrats in the coming campaign.

The measure, which passed on a 232-198, mostly party-line vote, faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where members in both parties have been skeptical of legislation on both lawmakers’ stock trades and voting restrictions.

It would prohibit members of Congress and their families from trading individual stocks for themselves, though it would allow lawmakers to keep the shares they already own, and to reinvest dividends received from those investments.

Members would need to provide seven to 14 days’ notice before selling stocks; they would be fined $2,000 or 10% of their investment if they violate the terms, along with net gains.

Lawmakers from across the ideological spectrum — including hard-line Republicans and progressive Democrats — have long pressed for legislation to crack down on congressional stock trading. Polls show broad support among voters for barring members of Congress from trading individual stocks; public frustration has mounted over the possibility that lawmakers who have access to sensitive, potentially market-influencing information may be profiting from their positions.

Democrats had waffled earlier this year over the GOP bill, favoring a more stringent bipartisan ban with less caveats, but many of them had still been expected to vote in favor of the legislation.

That changed when Republicans folded into the bill a proposed photo-ID voter restriction that Trump has demanded that Congress pass as part of his push to address unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud, which Democrats have assailed as an effort at voter suppression. The provision would require voters to present a valid photo ID when showing up to the polls in federal elections, or within three days of casting a provisional ballot. It would require those voting by mail to provide a photo copy of their ID card for their ballot to count.

The political maneuver stitching the two unrelated proposals together appeared to satisfy two top priorities for Republicans. It appeased hard-line Republicans who have refused to allow any bill to move through the House without provisions of the SAVE America Act, Trump’s broader elections overhaul, attached. It also all but guaranteed that Democrats would vote against the politically popular congressional stock-trading bill, giving the GOP an attack line against them.

“The Republicans do not want a stock trading ban to become law because they’ve added a poison pill to this bill,” Rep. Joseph D. Morelle, D-N.Y., said.

All but 13 Democrats voted no.

On Wednesday, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., described his party’s tactic as nothing more than political posturing.

“We are voting on a stock trading ban for members of Congress… BUT Republicans added voter-ID in the legislation,” Massie wrote in a social media post. “Not to get Dems to vote for voter-ID, but to get them to vote against the stock trading ban, so they can use it in the Nov. election.”

That campaigning had already begun Wednesday. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., said during debate on the stock-trading measure that he saw “nothing but obstruction from Democrats — it’s sad to say; it’s sad to see.”

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who has backed both a bipartisan stock trading ban and the SAVE America Act, said voters deserved an up-or-down vote.

“You can’t, whether on this side of the aisle or that side of the aisle, hide behind the SAVE Act for your opposition to what we need to do to change the culture of this institution,” Roy said.

The bill limiting congressional stock trades was one of three significant pieces of legislation House Republicans were jamming through Wednesday before leaving town for a five-week recess, including an annual defense policy bill and a $95 billion budget plan mostly aimed at paying for the war in Iran. Components of the SAVE America Act were tied to all three pieces of legislation, despite bipartisan opposition to the proposed election restrictions in the Senate.

Aside from the voter provision, the stock trading bill faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where members have been unable to pass similar legislation.

—

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Olivia Diaz/Haiyun Jiang
c. 2026 The New York Times Company