Congress bans itself from stock trading—with big loopholes still intact
H.R. 9560 — No Profiting from Public Service Act · Filed by Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-MI) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 30, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill prohibits federal officials—Members of Congress, judges, the President, Vice President, and senior executive-branch appointees—from owning or trading individual stocks, commodities, futures, and prediction market contracts tied to political events. Spouses and dependent children of these officials face the same restrictions. Officials have 90 days to divest or move holdings into blind trusts; violations trigger a 10% fine on the investment's value plus disgorgement of profits, with penalties published online.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a blanket prohibition on federal officials' direct ownership and trading of individual securities and commodities, paired with mandatory divestiture and public penalty disclosure. This is a straightforward accountability measure targeting self-dealing.
What the text implies
- Blind trusts remain a legal workaround; officials can still hold diversified funds and real estate, limiting the scope of actual conflict elimination.
- The 180-day post-separation trading restriction may be difficult to enforce and creates a window for officials to act on inside knowledge before penalties apply.
The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.
Who it affects
The bill directly restricts officials' ability to profit from their own policy decisions and inside information, reducing conflicts of interest and corruption risk. Citizens gain transparency (public penalty disclosure) and accountability mechanisms, though the restrictions are narrow (blind trusts and diversified funds remain permitted) and enforcement depends on ethics office capacity.