To amend chapter 131 of title 5, United States Code, to prohibit transactions involving certain assets by Members of Congress, to require Members of Congress and their spouses and dependent children to place certain assets into blind trusts, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Good Government Act of 2025 bans Members of Congress, their spouses, and their dependent children from holding, buying, or selling individual stocks, securities, commodities, and similar financial instruments while serving in office. Members must either divest their holdings or place them in a qualified blind trust within 120 days. The ban extends 180 days after leaving office.
Who Benefits and How
The general public benefits from reduced conflicts of interest in lawmaking, as members can no longer trade on insider knowledge or make policy decisions that directly benefit their personal portfolios. Blind trust managers and financial advisors gain new business managing congressional trusts. Ethics oversight bodies (Senate Select Committee on Ethics, House Committee on Ethics) receive enhanced authority and enforcement tools.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Members of Congress and their families bear the primary burden: they must divest or surrender control of individual stock holdings, face monthly civil penalties equal to their pay for noncompliance, and must disgorge any profits from prohibited transactions. The compliance costs include legal and financial advisory fees for setting up and maintaining qualified blind trusts.
Key Provisions
- Bans Members of Congress, spouses, and dependent children from holding individual stocks, securities, or commodities during service
- Requires divestment or placement in a qualified blind trust within 120 days (with possible 180-day extension)
- Imposes monthly civil penalties equal to a member's pay for noncompliance, plus mandatory disgorgement of illegal profits
- Mandates a GAO compliance audit within 2 years and public disclosure of all trust agreements and penalties
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Prohibits Members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from holding, purchasing, or selling covered financial instruments (individual stocks, securities, commodities) during their term of service, requiring divestment or placement in qualified blind trusts.
Key Policy Areas
Government Ethics, Financial Regulation, Congressional Oversight
Primary Purpose
Prohibits Members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from holding, purchasing, or selling covered financial instruments (individual stocks, securities, commodities) during their term of service, requiring divestment or placement in qualified blind trusts.
Policy Domains
Subchapter IV - Covered Financial Instruments of Members of Congress and Their Spouses and Dependent Children
Identified Gains
- General public / taxpayers
- Blind trust management firms
- Ethics oversight bodies
Identified Costs
- Members of Congress
- Spouses and dependent children of Members of Congress
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Sheehy introduced the following bill; which was read twice …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Congressional ethics committees, Congressional ethics committees (Senate Select Committee on Ethics, House Committee on Ethics), Congressional ethics offices
Positive-direction: U.S. Treasury
Negative-direction: Congressional ethics committees, Congressional ethics committees (Senate Select Committee on Ethics, House Committee on Ethics), Congressional ethics offices, Government Accountability Office, Members of Congress, Members of Congress who violate the stock trading ban
Blind trust management firms, Blind trust management firms and financial advisors, Qualified blind trust trustees
Positive-direction: Blind trust management firms, Blind trust management firms and financial advisors
Negative-direction: Qualified blind trust trustees
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "comptroller_general"
- → Comptroller General of the United States (GAO)
- "supervising_ethics_office"
- → Select Committee on Ethics of the Senate / Committee on Ethics of the House of Representatives
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Has the meaning given the term in section 1a of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1a).
Any investment in a security, security future, or commodity, including synthetic interests via derivatives. Includes indirect interests through investment funds, trusts, employee benefit plans, and deferred compensation plans. Excludes diversified mutual funds, diversified ETFs, Treasury bills/notes/bonds, spouse/child primary compensation, and government retirement plans.
A fund, trust, or plan that does not have a stated policy of concentrating investments in any industry, business, single country other than the US, or bonds of a single State.
An asset or financial interest transferred to a qualified blind trust by or on behalf of an interested party or relative.
A qualified blind trust as defined in section 13104(f)(3), approved in writing by the applicable supervising ethics office.
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.
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