The incoming Democratic Freshman Congress is already making waves in Washington.
Bob Harvie joined 49 Democratic-elect freshman representatives from across the nation to urge House leadership to adopt a rule to ban stock trading for congressional members and their spouses. These Democrats are immediately putting their stamp on a new congressional agenda ahead of taking office on Jan. 3, 2027.
“A stock trading ban alone will not fix Washington, but it is the fastest way to show voters we heard them. We promised our communities we would clean up this place. In January, we should do just that,” said the letter to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and House leadership dated Nov. 12.
Harvie beat five-time incumbent Republican Brian Fitzpatrick last week in a stunning upset to represent Pennsylvania’s First Congressional District, which includes all of Bucks County and a sliver of western Montgomery County.
“Voters didn’t give us a mandate, they delivered us marching orders. We’re getting to work right away to lower costs and fight corruption. Signing onto this letter to ban members of Congress from trading individual stock is a good start,” said Harvie.
Under the current rules, members of Congress are allowed to own and trade stocks and “nearly all of them” own shares in public companies, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
The STOCK Act of 2012, or Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, was designed to reduce or eliminate misuse and corruption, “but has not lived up to its promise,” a Campaign Legal Center report stated.
“Democrats may have won the election, but we have a long way to go to earn back the trust of voters across the country. The existing laws around insider trading are insufficient. We should hold ourselves to the highest standard and work to restore faith in government. Nobody should leave Congress with millions more in their bank accounts,” the letter to House leadership said.
