The Scoop
Rep. Chip Roy is telling top House Republicans to call a floor vote this fall on a bipartisan proposal to ban lawmakers from trading stocks — or else deal with a second discharge petition that’s designed to force their hands.
“My message has been to leadership: It is time to move,” the Texas Republican told Semafor Monday. “I’ve given lots of grace for them to warm into figuring out how to do it.”
Roy, who has been working with Rhode Island Democratic Rep. Seth Magaziner to merge a host of related stock-ban measures, said he hoped lawmakers will wrap those efforts in September. He called their bill “the right nucleus to start with,” given its breadth of support, but GOP Reps. Tim Burchett and Anna Paulina Luna have their own competing measure that could get forced to the floor, too.
Know More
Magaziner told Semafor last week that the House’s final stock ban legislation is unlikely to sweep in the White House, as the Senate’s effort has. That move, which Republicans are already trying to undo, drove President Donald Trump to attack sponsor Sen. Josh Hawley.
Hawley said Trump told him after that skirmish that “we need to have a stock trade bill” that applies to members of Congress. The president recently told reporters he supports the idea “conceptually.”
“There’s going to have to be a vote this fall,” Roy said. “Leadership just needs to figure out whether they’re going to do what’s necessary to lead on it, or whether they’re going to let this foment and become another fire that has to be put out.”
Roy added that lawmakers could address concerns over the financial strain by pairing the stock ban with a pay raise.
“I believe we should be able to make enough of a living to do our job,” Roy said. So “if that’s what you want to go do, do it, politically — but bottom line is, we need to move.”
Notable
- Luna told Politico she wants to file a discharge petition on a related proposal from Rep. Tim Burchett, which is among the ones Roy and Magaziner are looking to merge.