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Anna Matson@AnnaRMatson · Jul 30, 2025

Who needs cable when you can watch Congress for free? Senator Josh Hawley introduced his bill to ban stock trading and…

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Summary

Senator Josh Hawley introduced a bill to ban stock trading by members of Congress, citing that 86% of Americans support such a ban. The bill passed committee with support from both parties, though Republicans raised concerns about discouraging private sector professionals from entering politics and potential retroactivity issues.

Summarized by ThreadOut AI from the full thread. May miss nuance — read the thread below.

  1. #1

    Who needs cable when you can watch Congress for free? Senator Josh Hawley introduced his bill to ban stock trading and the room LIT up. You won’t want to miss this recap 🍿 🧵

  2. #2

    First Hawley (who doesn’t own stock) explains why this bill is so important. “86% of Americans say members of Congress should not be able to buy and sell shares of stock.” “We’ve seen the former speaker of the house make millions of dollars of profits.” “We’ve seen members of both parties, I’m sad to say, be investigated for their stock trades.” “And the reason for all of this is, that quite frankly, members of this body are privy to information that the normal person just is not.”

  3. #3

    Senator Rick Scott of Florida asks how you are supposed to sell an illiquid asset. Senator Hawley: “You’re concerned about the illiquid asset provision? It’s the same one you voted for last year…”

  4. #4

    Senator Johnson of Wisconsin: “You could relabel this law ‘the career politician protection act’ because it will make it so unattractive for people to give up their business.” “We have plenty of protections, we have the disclosure- this is a completely unnecessary piece of legislation.”

  5. #5

    Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky: “If this is a great bill, if this is the greatest thing since sliced bread and it’s really necessary- it should apply to Donald Trump. But the fact that they don’t want to apply it to Donald Trump means that it’s a really crummy bill.” “I will oppose the substitute change because I think it should apply to everybody or nobody.”

  6. #6

    Senator Hawley clears up some misconceptions- “The terms of the bill will take effect upon the beginning of their next term.” “It’s the same treatment for all office holders. Members of the house- it will take effect upon the beginning of their next term if they are reelected. Members of the senate- it will take effect upon the beginning of their next term if they are reelected. The president and the vice president- will take effect the beginning of their next term and so on.”

  7. #7

    Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan: “We have a problem. To address that, I’m willing to make the good work instead of waiting for the perfect. So of course I want the president and the vice president to be held accountable…but I think it’s important that we at least make a start.”

  8. #8

    Senator Johnson cleared the record and said he does not trade stocks himself. “I agree with the spirit of this.” “We have too many career politicians- we don’t have enough people who have experience in the private sector. We need more, we need to encourage them- not discourage them. This piece of legislation would be hugely discouraging to people from the private sector coming here and serving.”

  9. #9

    Now the fun begins. Hawley: “For those who know ahead of time that they are going to join this body, they can no longer use qualified blind trusts. The reason for that, as you (Senator Lankford) know, the rules on qualified blind trusts are not air tight. They are actually very loose. It is very difficult to police and YOU don’t police them in the ethics committee.” 👀

  10. #10

    Senator Moreno of Ohio: “Senator, with all due respect, sending something out Friday through some random computer system is also disrespectful to people on this committee.” Senator Gary Peters of Michigan: “Senator, we do use computers in the senate. I know that might be kind of weird for you, but we do use those.” Moreno: “Mr. Peters if you want to have a ‘who knows more about technology battle,’ let’s have that battle. I know more about technology IN MY PINKY THAN YOU DO.” Gotta love that old Ohio/ Michigan hate 😅

  11. #11

    Anyway… The bill ended up passing committee and it’s on its way to the Senate floor. Hawley was the only Republican yes vote.

  12. #12

    President Trump was asked about the bill. “Well I like it conceptually. I don’t know about it, but I like it conceptually. You know, Nancy Pelosi became rich by having inside information- she made a fortune with her husband. I think that’s disgraceful.”

  13. #13

    You get a gold star for making it this far. Thank you for every like, share, and subscribe. It helps me continue my work 🙏