86% of Americans want Congress to be banned from trading stocks. On September 30, the Senate finally voted, and the ban died 53–47. One party built it to fail. The other killed it on cue. Then they all went home to run ads about it.
Three weeks ago, in Congress Investigated Everyone's Insider Trading Except Its Own, I wrote that the House's stock-trading bill had a poison pill bolted onto it and would never get 60 votes in the Senate. On Wednesday, September 30, it didn't.
I've been circling a word for a while now. It's time to use it.
Uniparty: the idea that on the issues that matter most to the people in power, such as their money, their donors, and their careers, Republicans and Democrats behave as a single party, whatever they say on camera.
Editorial: "Uniparty" is my word for a pattern, not a claim that there's a secret meeting. Every fact below is sourced. The label is my opinion.
The Vote
The Stop Insider Trading Act needed 60 votes to advance. It got 53. All 53 Republicans voted yes. All 47 members of the Democratic caucus voted no.
Republicans called it proof that Democrats want to keep trading. Democrats called the bill a sham. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said it was "as ineffective as a screen door on a submarine."
Both of them are right about the other. That's the story.
How Republicans Built It to Fail
The bill, written by Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), passed the House 232–198 in July. Here is what it actually does:
- It bars members, spouses, and dependent children from buying new stocks.
- It lets them keep every share they already own.
- It lets them sell those shares after 7 to 14 days' public notice.
- It doesn't cover the president.
Then House Republican leaders attached a nationwide voter-ID mandate to it, an unrelated measure Senate Democrats have voted down repeatedly.
Don't take my word for why. Take a Republican's. On the day of the House vote, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) wrote: "Congress is not serious. We are voting on a stock trading ban for members of Congress… BUT Republicans added voter-ID in the legislation." He called it "political theater cooked up by 25-year-old staffers." Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said he'd rather have had "a straight up or down vote on stock trading."
There was a stronger bill available. A bipartisan House group had written one that forces members to sell their stocks. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) filed a petition last December to force a vote on it. By July, it had 84 of the 218 signatures it needed, and only 15 of them were Republicans. Republican leaders went with the Steil bill.
How Democrats Played Their Part
Democrats say they want a real ban. They point to the HONEST Act, which would require members of Congress to sell their individual stocks and would eventually extend to the president and vice president.
Fair enough. But look at the record.
In December 2021, with Democrats in control of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected a ban outright. "We are a free-market economy," she said. "They should be able to participate in that." The House never voted on a ban while she held the gavel.
In July 2024, with Democrats in control of the Senate, a bipartisan ban cleared the committee by an 8–4 vote. Schumer controlled the floor schedule. It never got a vote.
Then there's Luna's petition. Democrats signed it first and in numbers: by mid-December, 59 of its 74 backers were Democrats. Then, according to Punchbowl News, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries' team quietly urged Democrats to abandon it for a rival petition of their own, one that added the president and vice president, which Punchbowl called a dealbreaker for many Republicans. Luna accused Jeffries of killing her petition. Both petitions stalled.
The Same Move, Twice
Put the two parties side by side.
- Democrats, 2024: a real ban clears a Senate committee. The majority leader never calls a vote.
- Republicans, 2025–2026: a real ban clears the same committee 8–7, with Sen. Josh Hawley the only Republican voting yes. Fourteen months later, the majority leader has never called a vote.
- Democrats in the majority: the Speaker says members should be free to trade.
- Republicans in the majority: the Speaker passes a ban that lets members keep everything they own.
When Hawley's bill advanced, President Trump called him a "second-tier Senator." That bill's ban on presidents wouldn't even have applied until Trump left office.
Whichever party holds the gavel, the real bill stays in the drawer, and the one that reaches the floor is the one that can't pass.
Why It Works for Both of Them
A University of Maryland survey found 86% of Americans support the ban: 87% of Republicans, 88% of Democrats, and 81% of independents. Nothing in American politics polls like that.
So why hasn't it passed? Because an issue is worth more unsolved.
According to ad-tracking data reported by Punchbowl News, campaigns in more than 80 House and Senate races have spent over $117 million this cycle on ads about congressional stock trading. Republicans are running them against Democrats. Democrats are running them against Republicans. After Wednesday's vote, the Senate left town until after the election, and every one of them now has a fresh line for the next ad.
Meanwhile, the trading goes on. Among members who actively traded in 2025, 29 beat the S&P 500: 15 Democrats and 14 Republicans. As of mid-September, at least 28 House members from both parties had blown the legal deadline for disclosing their trades in the past year. The standard penalty is $200.
Where the Uniparty Label Stops
I said in What Is Wrong With America Today that I don't think the two parties meet in a back room. I still don't. Thirteen House Democrats voted for the Steil bill. Hawley has pushed a real ban against his own party and his own president. Individual members on both sides have tried.
But look at who decides what gets a vote. That's the leadership of each party, and on this issue, the two leaderships have made the same decision every time it has counted. They don't need to coordinate. They have the same portfolio to protect.
Call to Action
- Look up your senators' and representatives' trades. Their disclosures are public at the House Clerk's and Senate's financial disclosure sites.
- Ask one question. Will they vote for a clean, standalone ban that makes members sell, with nothing attached? A yes or no will do.
- Ask the leaders, too. Senate Majority Leader John Thune can put the HONEST Act on the floor any day he chooses. Ask his office why he hasn't.
- Don't fall for the ad. When a campaign tells you the other side blocked the stock-trading ban, remember that it's true, and that it's true of both sides.
- Read the background. Congress Investigated Everyone's Insider Trading Except Its Own has the full history.
They'll tell you there are two parties in Washington, and on a lot of things, there are. On this one, count the votes that never get held.
Sources
- Roll Call, "Lawmakers' stock trading bill falls short in Senate," Sept. 30, 2026 — https://rollcall.com/2026/09/30/lawmakers-stock-trading-bill-falls-short-in-senate/
- Daily Signal, "Senate Democrats Block Stop Insider Trading Act in 53-47 Vote," Sept. 30, 2026 — https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/09/30/senate-democrats-block-stop-insider-trading-act/
- Deseret News, "Senate Democrats block bill seeking to ban lawmakers from trading stocks," Sept. 30, 2026 — https://www.deseret.com/politics/2026/09/30/democrats-shoot-down-stock-trading-ban/
- Medill on the Hill, "Senate Democrats block bill limiting lawmaker stock trading," Sept. 2026 — https://medillonthehill.medill.northwestern.edu/2026/09/senate-democrats-block-bill-limiting-lawmaker-stock-trading/
- House Administration Committee, "Chairman Steil Issues Statement Following Senate's Failed Cloture Vote," Sept. 30, 2026 — https://cha.house.gov/media/press-releases/chairman-steil-issues-statement-following-senate-s-failed-cloture-vote-on-the-stop-insider-trading-act
- Senate Democrats, "Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Slamming Republicans' Spineless Stock Trading Ban," Sept. 30, 2026 — https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/leader-schumer-floor-remarks-slamming-republicans-spineless-stock-trading-ban
- Roll Call, "Congressional stock-trading bill passes the House," July 22, 2026 — https://rollcall.com/2026/07/22/congressional-stock-trading-bill-passes-the-house/
- Roll Call, "Dashed dreams for consensus group ahead of stock-trading vote," July 21, 2026 — https://rollcall.com/2026/07/21/dashed-dreams-consensus-group-stock-trading-vote/
- Roll Call, "How curbing Congress' stock-trading took a partisan turn," July 16, 2026 — https://rollcall.com/2026/07/16/curbing-congress-stock-trading-partisan-turn/
- Raw Story, "Renegade Republican rips his 'not serious' party," July 22, 2026 — https://www.rawstory.com/thomas-massie-2677257077/
- Newsweek, "Full list of lawmakers signing discharge petition to ban stock trading," Dec. 2025 — https://www.newsweek.com/stock-trading-ban-gathers-momentum-among-republicans-11149991
- Punchbowl News, "House Dems wage new discharge petition strategy," Dec. 18, 2025 — https://punchbowl.news/article/house/dems-discharge/
- Yahoo News, "Pelosi rejects stock-trading ban," Dec. 15, 2021 — https://news.yahoo.com/pelosi-rejects-stock-trading-ban-170954629.html
- Roll Call, "Lawmaker stock-trading ban legislation advances in Senate," July 24, 2024 — https://rollcall.com/2024/07/24/lawmaker-stock-trading-ban-legislation-advances-in-senate/
- PolitiFact, fact-check on the ETHICS Act's status, Nov. 20, 2024 — https://api.politifact.com/factchecks/2024/nov/20/threads-posts/proposed-bill-banning-stock-trading-wouldnt-bar-tr
- ABC News, "Trump blasts Republican Sen. Hawley over stock trade ban," July 30, 2025 — https://abcnews.com/Politics/hawley-spars-fellow-republicans-joins-democrats-pass-stock/story?id=124219842
- Rep. Abigail Spanberger, University of Maryland Program for Public Consultation survey release — https://spanberger.house.gov/posts/new-survey-finds-republicans-democrats-both-overwhelmingly-oppose-stock-trading-by-members-of-congress
- Punchbowl News, "The $117 million message: Stock-trading ads flood the midterms," Sept. 29, 2026 — https://punchbowl.news/article/campaigns/stock-trading-ads-flood-airwaves/
- The Hill, "Senate adjourns until November with Republicans fearful of losing majority," Oct. 2026 — https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/6121941-senate-adjourns-midterm-campaigns/
- Independent Institute, "Insider Trading and the Wolves of Capitol Hill," Feb. 16, 2026 — https://www.independent.org/article/2026/02/16/congress-beat-stock-market-2025/
- V64OTD, "Congress Investigated Everyone's Insider Trading Except Its Own," Sept. 14, 2026 — https://v64otd.com/dispatch/congress-insider-trading-prediction-markets-double-standard/
- V64OTD, "What Is Wrong With America Today," Sept. 25, 2026 — https://v64otd.com/dispatch/what-is-wrong-with-america-today/