Group of bipartisan lawmakers, including AOC, push for congressional stock trading ban

By 
 May 27, 2025

There has been a growing push within the halls of Capitol Hill and the White House to place some type of hard ban on trading stocks for active elected lawmakers and other officials in high positions.

According to reports, that push received bipartisan support from all corners of the ideological spectrum within Congress, including from radical progressive "Squad" Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

Reportedly, a task force made up of Democrats and Republicans has come together to get a bill passed that would prohibit members of Congress from actively trading stocks.

The push comes in the wake of far too many elected officials seemingly playing Wall Street better than the most seasoned and experienced stock traders in New York City.

What's going on?

The group of bipartisan lawmakers is one that will probably never be seen again on any other issue, as their beliefs cover a large range of the ideological scale.

The group reportedly includes "Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Joe Morelle (D-NY), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), Tim Burchett (R-TN), Chip Roy (R-TX), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA)."

Magaziner explained that the issue does not belong to one side or the other.

"This is not a liberal or conservative issue," he told the Washington Examiner. "If you just think about the people who are in the room, it's Burchett and Roy on the Right, it's Fitzpatrick and I guess myself in the middle, AOC and Jayapal on the Left."

He added, "The real dividing line here is not liberal versus conservative, it's business as usual versus people who want to shake things up, so that's made it a fun project to work on."

Despite intense fighting between the two sides of the aisle over President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill," AOC indicated that the meetings over banning congressional stock trading have gone quite well.

“I think that we've been able to do this and also have such positive and productive meetings during what is also a very bitter reconciliation fight has actually been quite nice," she told the Examiner.

It's a "bright spot"

AOC explained that the meetings on the issue have been a "bright spot" regarding bipartisanship.

"It definitely has been one of the very, very, very few bright spots in terms of productive bipartisan work, and I feel very encouraged that in this area of legislating, there's been just a lot of really good-faith, thoughtful conversations between both Democratic and Republican counterparts," she said.

It'll be very interesting on both sides of the aisle who ultimately opposes such efforts.

" A free people [claim] their rights, as derived from the laws of nature."
Thomas Jefferson