Nancy Mays is no stranger to standing up for herself. It’s a must-have feature when working as a teenager at a South Carolina Waffle House, attending The Citadel, and recently defying your party to vote to release the Epstein files. She is on the trail again in an effort to release records of congressional sexual misconduct and harassment, including settlements paid for with taxpayer money.
The push comes in response to allegations that Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) had an affair with a congressional staffer who later died by suicide, after sexually explicit text messages between them became public. Gonzalez initially denied the relationship but later admitted the relationship, calling it an “error in judgment,” and abandoned his re-election bid under pressure from House Republican leadership. The House Ethics Committee launched a formal investigation.
The rules that apply to you don’t always apply to the people who write them — and recent votes on Capitol Hill did little to change that impression. The House (1) voted on a bipartisan basis to kill the bill, sending it to a committee with members from both sides of the aisle closing already signed off on plans to kill the measure.
Opponents argued that the decision was rushed and could do more harm than good — the Ethics Committee warned that it could speed up victims’ cooperation in ongoing investigations, and several members, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) said the text lacked enough protections to survive and risked publicizing unfounded accusations without the victim’s consent.
It was a disturbing moment, especially in light of the relentless public pressure to finally release the full Epstein files. But when the spotlight is on the search for accountability in Congress, its members are remarkably adept at dimming the lights.
The problem is more than the solution to bad behavior. Critics say elected representatives not only avoid accountability — in many cases they may enrich themselves in ways unavailable to the rest of the country. When lawmakers appear to be trading on privileged information, it raises serious concerns about market integrity and the public’s confidence in their retirement savings. And when their portfolios are tied to the industries they regulate, it’s fair to question whether the policies they support are always designed to serve you.
Should people who set tax policy, regulate industries, and receive classified national security information be allowed to trade individual stocks?
Most Americans say no. A 2023 University of Maryland poll (2) found that 86% of voters supported banning members of Congress from trading stocks. And yet, more than a decade after the passage of the 2012 Stock Act, which prevented lawmakers from taking advantage of nonpublic information, the practice continues largely unabated.
The Stock Act (Stop Trading on the Knowledge of Congress) requires members of Congress to disclose stock trades within 45 days. But violations are common and fines are largely symbolic. A 2022 investigation by Business Insider found that 78 members of Congress or their spouses violated the STOCK Act between 2021 and 2022 alone. Normal fine? Only $200 (3).
To put that in perspective, a parking ticket in Washington DC can cost you $100. Violating federal securities disclosure laws, apparently, charges like these two.
To their credit, some lawyers are trying to change the system. In September 2025, Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Seth Magaziner (D-Rhode Island) introduced in the House the Trust in Congress Act Restoration Act, a bipartisan bill to prohibit members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from owning or trading individual stocks (4). The bill has since attracted more than 125 cosponsors from both parties.
In January 2026, Sens. Ashley Moody (R-Florida) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) introduced a Senate companion version (5), and in March 2026, Hailey Stevens (D-Michigan) introduced a separate, broader bill — Get Rich — that would extend the Congressional Commerce Act (6) to the stock law. Executive branch
They are not alone. Sen. Josh Hawley’s HONEST Act passed through a Senate committee in July 2025, and House Republicans advanced their limited proposal in early 2026. The result is a crowded field where virtually everyone agrees that the system is broken but can’t figure out how to fix it.
Progress is encouraging, but experienced observers have reason to be skeptical. Bills similar to this have been presented several times before, but no one has sent them to the president’s desk. The pattern is familiar: a wave of public outrage, a flurry of press conferences, and then a quiet death in committee.
Read more: The average net worth of Americans is a staggering $620,654. But it makes almost no sense. Here’s the number that counts (and how to make it skyrocket)
What makes Congressional stock trading an issue isn’t just the principles about it, it’s the dubious well-timed trading pattern.
Suspicion is not just fiction. Academic research, including a widely cited NBER working paper, has found that congressional leaders outperform their rank-and-file peers by surprising margins—a pattern that is difficult to explain without some informational advantage (7).
Over the years, watchdog groups and retail investors have followed Congress’ business activities with increasing scrutiny. Platforms like Capitol Trades and Quiver Quantitative have built entire businesses around monitoring and publishing lawmakers’ financial disclosures, while communities like the subreddit r/tradewithcongress have turned congressional business into something approaching a spectator sport—one where the house always seems to win (8).
Scrutiny cuts across party lines. Representative Nancy Pelosi’s stock portfolio has become the most popular in Congress, with her returns beating the market by 581% during her time in office. But she’s hardly alone — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green’s portfolio has risen 476% since joining Congress. When members on opposite sides of the political spectrum both dramatically outperform professional fund managers, it raises questions that transcend partisanship.
Some of the most studied examples in recent years include trades made in advance of major policy announcements, regulatory decisions, and even national security developments. In one widely discussed case, observers on social media have raised questions about whether some congressional trades may predate publicly recognized developments in US-Israeli military operations in the Middle East, particularly regarding defense sector positions that benefit from increased military activity.
None of this proves wrong. Congressional business disclosures are public records, and the connection between the business and the subsequent event does not establish that a lawmaker acted on nonpublic information. But the fact that these questions are being raised, and that the existing enforcement framework is unsound, is precisely the problem.
If you’re reading this and feeling depressed, it’s understandable. But you don’t need Congress to play fair to create wealth for yourself.
Here are some practical steps that every reader can take right now.
Create an emergency fund first. Before you invest seriously, make sure you have three months worth of expenses in a high-yield savings account. This keeps you from being forced to sell your investment at a loss during an unexpected expense or job change.
Take advantage of your 401(k) or IRA and really maximize it. Congress may have informational advantages that you don’t, but tax-advantaged retirement accounts are available to everyone—and most people are leaving them on the table. For 2026, the contribution limit for a 401(k) is $24,500 ($32,500 if you’re over 50). For IRAs, it’s $7,500 ($8,600 if you’re over 50). If your employer offers a match, it’s free money. Not contributing enough to catch the full match is one of the most common and costliest financial mistakes Americans make.
Prefer broad index funds over individual stocks. One of the great ironies of the congressional business debate is that the investment strategy that most experts recommend for everyday people is the opposite of what most lawmakers do. Instead of picking individual stocks—a strategy that even professional fund managers often fail at—low-cost index funds that track the S&P 500 or the entire stock market give you instant diversification and historically strong returns.
Be aware but don’t panic. Congressional trades and political headlines will tempt you to react—don’t. A well-diversified, long-term investment portfolio has historically recovered from every downturn in US stock market history. The biggest risk for most retail investors isn’t a market crash—it’s getting pulled out during one. Take the emotion out of equity and automate the contributions in your investment account.
The same Congress that won’t publish its record of misbehavior and can’t fix a stock trading ban is not going to reform itself anytime soon. But building long-term wealth never requires the same benefits as a senator. It’s about getting started, staying consistent, keeping your expenses low, and not letting the news cycle derail your financial plan.
You can’t control what Congress does with that insider knowledge. But you can control your savings rate, your asset allocation, and your decision not to panic when the markets become volatile.
This disciplined, unsexy approach has a better track record than most stock picks on Capitol Hill — and you don’t need a security clearance to pull it off.
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We rely only on verified sources and reliable third-party reporting. For details, see our Institutional Ethics and Guidelines.
NBC News (1); Program for Public Counseling / University of Maryland (2); Business Insider (3); Rep. Chip Roy (4); Sense. Moody and Gillibrand (5); Representative Haley Stevens (6); NBER (7); r/tradewithcongress (8)
This article provides information only and should not be used as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
