To amend chapter 131 of title 5, United States Code, to prohibit transactions involving certain financial instruments by Members of Congress.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
Known as the PELOSI Act, this bill prohibits Members of Congress and their spouses from holding, buying, or selling individual stocks, securities, commodities, or derivatives during their term of service. Diversified mutual funds, ETFs, Treasury bonds, and spouse employment compensation are exempt. Current members get 180 days to divest after enactment; new members get 180 days from the start of their term. Violators must disgorge profits to the Treasury and face civil fines of 10% of the value of noncompliant holdings every 30 days. Members must certify compliance annually, with certifications published publicly. The Government Accountability Office must audit compliance within two years. Ethics committees in both chambers enforce the rules.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Bans Members of Congress and their spouses from holding, purchasing, or selling individual stocks and other covered financial instruments during their term of service, with civil penalties for noncompliance.
Who Benefits
- General public (increased trust in Congress)
- Retail investors (fairer markets)
Who Bears Costs
- Members of Congress with individual stock portfolios
- Spouses of Members of Congress
- Congressional ethics committees (enforcement burden)
Key Policy Areas
Government Operations, Finance
Primary Purpose
Bans Members of Congress and their spouses from holding, purchasing, or selling individual stocks and other covered financial instruments during their term of service, with civil penalties for noncompliance.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Address public concern about congressional insider trading by requiring divestiture of individual financial positions while allowing diversified investments"
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Alford introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Congressional ethics committees, Government Accountability Office, Members of Congress
Positive-direction: U.S. Treasury
Negative-direction: Congressional ethics committees, Government Accountability Office, Members of Congress, Members of Congress with stock portfolios, Noncompliant Members of Congress
American public, Spouses of Members of Congress
Positive-direction: American public
Negative-direction: Spouses of Members of Congress
Brokerage firms serving Members of Congress
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "gao"
- → Government Accountability Office (Comptroller General)
- "members"
- → Members of Congress and their spouses
- "ethics_committees"
- → Select Committee on Ethics (Senate) and Committee on Ethics (House)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Securities, security futures, commodities, and synthetic derivatives thereof; excludes diversified mutual funds, diversified ETFs, Treasury bills/notes/bonds, and spouse employment compensation
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology