Representative Lori Trahan, who represents Massachusetts’ Third Congressional District, is a member of House Democratic Leadership.
For too long, members of Congress from both parties have undermined public trust by buying and selling stocks while in office. Even when there is no evidence of wrongdoing, the public perception is clear that the people who write our nation’s laws may be enriching themselves instead of working for the folks they were elected to represent.
That perception is corrosive. It feeds cynicism about public service at a time when faith in our democratic institutions is already fragile. Americans are understandably skeptical about whether Washington is working for them. They see rising costs, gridlock, and partisanship, and then they see members of Congress profiting off of stock trades.
To many in our nation, the system looks rigged. That’s why more than 7 in 10 Americans, including majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and independents, support banning lawmakers from trading stocks. I agree with them.
Members of Congress are not supposed to be day traders. We are public servants. Our job is to listen to our constituents, write laws, and solve problems on their behalf. We should not be looking for ways to set ourselves up for retirement.
That’s why I made the decision years ago not to hold or trade individual stocks. In fact, my own experience only underscored how broken the current system is.
Back in 2020, a startup I made a small investment in nearly a decade before ever running for office was acquired, and the few shares I had were closed out. Since I had never traded stocks while serving in Congress, I did not realize I was required to file paperwork disclosing that automatic transaction with the House. As soon as I learned of the requirement, I proactively corrected the record. However, the ordeal left me with a lasting takeaway. Members of Congress should not be spending their time tracking investments, making trades, or filing financial disclosures. We should be doing the job our constituents elected us to do.
The good news is that common-sense, bipartisan solutions are ready. A bill called the Halting Ownership and Non-Ethical Stock Transactions (HONEST) Act would ban members of Congress from trading stocks and go a step further by extending that ban to include the president and vice president.
This isn’t a radical idea. It’s a straightforward reform rooted in a principle that should be beyond dispute — that no one elected to serve the public should be allowed to profit from private investments, especially if they are influenced by information they receive in their official role.
Members of Congress have unique access to details about industries, regulations, and markets. Even if most of us never act on that knowledge, the possibility that we could undermines confidence in many of the decisions we make. Banning stock trading is not only about preventing corruption; it is also about restoring faith in a system that belongs to the people, not politicians.
Every day that Congress fails to act is another day that public confidence in the institution slips further away. Trust is not a talking point. It is the foundation of our democracy, and right now that foundation is cracking. When Americans believe their elected officials are looking out for their own bottom line instead of working for them, it deepens divisions, fuels cynicism, and weakens our ability to govern. Congress should take up the HONEST Act and pass it to send a clear message to the American people that their representatives work for them and them alone.
