Sponsors (5)
The bill trades stronger conflict-of-interest protections for Members of Congress and a narrow set of permitted investments and tax relief against potentially significant financial costs, illiquidity, enforcement penalties, and career constraints for Members and their families.
Members of Congress and their families: reduces conflict-of-interest risk by requiring divestment of most individual securities, lowering actual and perceived influence from personal holdings.
Members of Congress and their families: preserves the ability to hold broadly diversified funds and Treasury securities so they can keep simple, low-conflict investments.
Members of Congress and their families (and taxpayers): provides a tax-safe pathway to divestment allowing swaps into permitted assets without immediate tax consequences if the rules are followed.
Members of Congress and their families: forced divestment with short (90–180 day) deadlines can realize taxable gains or lock in losses, harming household finances.
Members of Congress and their families (and other private investors): interests in private funds (hedge/VC) may face illiquidity and valuation uncertainty under multi-year disposition windows, risking loss or delayed access to value.
Members of Congress and their families: civil penalties up to $100,000 per violation and other remedies create substantial legal and financial risk for inadvertent compliance errors.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits Members of Congress and their spouses/dependent children from owning or trading most securities and requires divestment within set deadlines (90/180 days; up to 5 years for private funds).
Official title: To prohibit stock trading and ownership by Members of Congress and their spouses and dependent children, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 6, 2025 by Timothy Burchett · Last progress March 6, 2025
Prohibits Members of Congress and their spouses and dependent children from owning or trading almost all stocks, bonds, commodities, futures, and other securities, with limited exceptions (e.g., certain diversified funds, Treasury securities, retirement plans, and defined small-business interests). It requires existing covered assets to be divested on set timelines (generally 180 days for sitting Members, 90 days for new Members) and allows up to five years to divest interests in hedge funds, venture capital funds, or privately held complex investment vehicles.