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 bill amends Chapter 131 of title 5, U.S. Code to add a new subchapter prohibiting Members of Congress and their families from holding covered financial instruments (individual stocks, securities, commodities, defines key terms for the subchapter including covered financial instrument, qualified blind trust, diversified fund, and other terms necessary to implement the congressional stock trading ban, and requires current and new Members of Congress to certify, divest, or place covered financial instruments in qualified blind trusts within 120 days, with extension provisions up to 180 days. It relies on compliance mandates, reporting requirements, and definition changes. The main policy areas are Government Ethics and Finance.
Who Benefits and How
Blind trust management firms could gain revenue opportunities, Blind trust management firms and financial advisors could gain revenue opportunities, and General public and transparency advocates would be affected.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Members of Congress would take on compliance duties, Congressional ethics offices would take on compliance duties, and Members of Congress who violate the stock trading ban could face higher costs.
Key Provisions
- Amends Chapter 131 of title 5, U.S. Code to add a new subchapter prohibiting Members of Congress and their families from holding covered financial instruments (individual stocks, securities, commodities...
- Defines key terms for the subchapter including covered financial instrument, qualified blind trust, diversified fund, and other terms necessary to implement the congressional stock trading ban.
- Requires current and new Members of Congress to certify, divest, or place covered financial instruments in qualified blind trusts within 120 days, with extension provisions up to 180 days.
- Requires each Member of Congress to submit an annual written certification to the applicable supervising ethics committee confirming compliance with the stock trading ban.
- Establishes enforcement mechanisms for the stock trading ban: written notices for violations, hearing rights for accused members, mandatory disgorgement of profits from prohibited transactions to the Treasury...
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
The bill amends Chapter 131 of title 5, U.S. Code to add a new subchapter prohibiting Members of Congress and their families from holding covered financial instruments (individual stocks, securities, commodities, defines key terms for the subchapter including covered financial instrument, qualified blind trust, diversified fund, and other terms necessary to implement the congressional stock trading ban, and requires current and new Members of Congress to certify, divest, or place covered financial instruments in qualified blind trusts within 120 days, with extension provisions up to 180 days.
Key Policy Areas
Government Ethics, Finance
Primary Purpose
The bill amends Chapter 131 of title 5, U.S. Code to add a new subchapter prohibiting Members of Congress and their families from holding covered financial instruments (individual stocks, securities, commodities, defines key terms for the subchapter including covered financial instrument, qualified blind trust, diversified fund, and other terms necessary to implement the congressional stock trading ban, and requires current and new Members of Congress to certify, divest, or place covered financial instruments in qualified blind trusts within 120 days, with extension provisions up to 180 days.
Policy Domains
Subchapter IV - Covered Financial Instruments of Members of Congress and Their Spouses and Dependent Children
Identified Gains
- Blind trust management firms
- Blind trust management firms and financial advisors
- General public and transparency advocates
- U.S. Treasury
Identified Costs
- Members of Congress
- Congressional ethics offices
- Members of Congress who violate the stock trading ban
- Congressional ethics committees (Senate Select Committee on Ethics, House Committee on Ethics)
- Government Accountability Office (GAO)
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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