Scoop: Senate Dems reintroduce stock trading ban for Congress

• Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), facing the toughest reelection fight for the party next year, and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) will introduce their Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act on Thursday, according to sources familiar with their plans.
• The idea is incredibly popular with voters: 86% of registered voters support banning lawmakers from trading individual stocks, according to a 2023 poll from the University of Maryland.
• Multiple studies have shown that member of Congress outperform the market on average, raising questions about corruption.

The big picture: Progress has stalled on the stock trading ban after a bipartisan group of senators reached a deal last year to move forward with the legislation.

• Trump told TIME in April that he would "absolutely" sign a congressional stock trading ban if it made it to his desk.
• Senate Republicans have introduced their own stock trading ban, called the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments Act — also known as the PELOSI Act.

Between the lines: Ossoff and Kelly's bill would require members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children to place their stocks into a blind trust or divest the holdings.

• The bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.)

Both Ossoff and Kelly have placed their portfolios in blind trusts.

• "Stock trading by members of Congress massively erodes public confidence in Congress and creates a serious appearance of impropriety, which is why we should ban stock trading by members of Congress altogether," Ossoff said in a statement.
• "This isn't rocket science: the only way to stop insider trading in Congress is to stop members of Congress from trading stocks. Period," Kelly said.