Five Weeks Before the Midterms, Senate Democrats Block the House-Passed Congressional Stock Trading Ban 53-47 — Pete Ricketts Says "Public Service Is Not a Profit-Making Business," While Chuck Schumer Calls It "Sham Legislation" Loaded With a Voter ID "Poison Pill"
On Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, the Senate voted 53-47 on a party-line procedural vote to take up H.R. 7008, the Stop Insider Trading Act, falling seven votes short of the 60 needed to advance. No Democrat voted yes. The Senate version was carried by Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), who is on the ballot in November. The House passed the bill 232-198 in July. It would bar members of Congress, their spouses and dependents from buying new publicly traded stocks and require seven days' public notice before selling, but would let members keep stocks they already own and would not cover the president, vice president or Cabinet. Republicans also attached voter ID provisions drawn from the SAVE America Act. Democrats said the ban was watered down from the bipartisan bill the Senate Homeland Security Committee advanced in 2025 and called the voter ID language a "poison pill"; Republicans said Democrats had voted against both a stock ban and voter ID. The same morning, Democrats also blocked the House-passed Ratepayer Protection Act, 57-43.
“[Before the vote:] Will Democrats support commonsense measures like a stock trading ban, voter ID, and protection from higher energy costs? Or will they continue to play politics?”