The HONEST Act

Last month, a bipartisan bill to ban congressional stock trading passed out of a Senate committee — one step closer to finally becoming the law of the land and ending one of Washington's biggest conflicts of interest.

I've fought for this reform for over a decade because the guiding principle is clear as day: Members of Congress should serve the public, not enrich themselves by trading individual stocks.

That's why I authored the ETHICS Act, the stock trading bill the HONEST Act is based on. The HONEST Act bans members of Congress (and their spouses) from owning or trading individual stocks while in office. Instead, they'd have to place their holdings in blind trusts or use broad-based funds that don't create conflicts of interest.

Why is this so important? When lawmakers are making decisions about health care, energy, tech, or defense policy, the only question on their minds should be: What's best for the American people? It should never be: What's best for my stock portfolio?

We've passed a version of this bill out of committee two years in a row. That means the momentum is there to deliver a huge win for government accountability.

Washington insiders and special interests don't want this reform and are trying to delay and water it down. We need to keep up the pressure because overwhelming public demand is the only thing that will get this across the finish line.

I'll keep fighting until we ban congressional stock trading once and for all. At the end of the day, this is about trust: You sent us to Congress to serve you, not ourselves.

Onward!

Jeff