Senate Democrats block bill to restrict lawmaker stock trading

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Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked a bill to restrict lawmaker stock trading over objections to new voter ID requirements that Republicans added to the legislation.

The party-line vote was 53 to 47. While the bill adds more constraints on lawmaker stock trading than what exists under the current law, all Democrats opposed it, saying it did not go far enough to outright end the practice. Democrats also disapproved of the Republican decision to attach changes to voter ID requirements to the legislation.

President Donald Trump has long pushed for voter ID — and the vote comes in the run-up to the November elections, where control of Congress is at stake and Republicans are trying to turn out their base in a year that the president is not on the ballot.

Polls have consistently found widespread support for banning members of Congress from trading stocks. The issue has received national attention and alarmed nonpartisan ethics experts about whether lawmakers are using their positions of power for personal enrichment.

The House narrowly passed the bill in July, with only 13 Democrats joining Republicans to support it. The legislation prevents lawmakers, their spouses, and dependent children from buying new stocks of publicly traded companies while serving in Congress, which adds a new restriction on a highly controversial practice. But lawmakers could still buy private stocks, keep stocks they already owned prior to entering Congress and maintain certain investment funds.

Lawmaker stock trading has not been reformed since the STOCK Act was passed in 2012. That bill created requirements for lawmakers to disclose their stock trades but has done little to curb the practice. Under current law, lawmakers, their spouses, and children are permitted to make trades, but they are mandated to report any activity done on their behalf within 45 days. They are only required to disclose a monetary value range for trades.

There is bipartisan support for restricting lawmaker stock trading. But the issue has still splintered along partisan lines. Democrats have argued any effort should ban the president, vice president and their spouses from trading stocks as well, losing Republican support in the process.

Ahead of the vote, Senate Majority Leader John Thune praised the bill as “something that is broadly supported by the American people.”

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said it would only create “loophole after loophole,” and objected to the addition of the voter ID requirements.

“The bill Republicans are offering today is Swiss cheese legislating, creating loophole after loophole after loophole, and it’s a step backward to solving this critical problem,” Schumer said Tuesday. “If Republican senators really cared about stopping stock trading by members, they wouldn’t have loaded it up with a poison pill voter ID bill which Senate Democrats have defeated already twice.”

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周三，参议院民主党人阻止了一项限制议员股票交易的法案，原因是他们反对共和党人添加到该法案中的新的选民身份识别要求。

该法案以53票对47票按党派路线投票通过。尽管该法案对议员股票交易的限制比现行法律更为严格，但所有民主党人都投了反对票，认为该法案力度不够，无法彻底杜绝议员股票交易。民主党人也不赞成共和党将修改选民身份识别要求附加到该法案中的决定。

唐纳德·特朗普总统长期以来一直推动选民身份识别——而此次投票正值11月大选前夕，届时国会的控制权将岌岌可危，共和党人正试图在总统本人不参选的情况下动员他们的基本盘投票。

民调显示，民众普遍支持禁止国会议员进行股票交易。这一问题已引起全国关注，并令无党派伦理专家担忧，议员们是否在利用职权谋取私利。

众议院7月以微弱优势通过了这项法案，仅有13名民主党议员与共和党议员联手投了赞成票。该法案禁止议员、其配偶和受抚养子女在任职期间购买上市公司的新股票，这为一项备受争议的做法增添了新的限制。但议员仍然可以购买非上市公司的股票，保留在进入国会前已持有的股票，并持有某些类型的投资基金。

自2012年《股票法案》（STOCK Act）通过以来，议员股票交易问题一直未得到改革。该法案规定议员必须披露其股票交易，但收效甚微。根据现行法律，议员、其配偶和子女均可进行股票交易，但必须在45天内报告任何以他们名义进行的交易活动。他们只需披露交易金额范围即可。

限制议员股票交易获得了两党支持。但这个问题仍然存在党派分歧。民主党人认为，任何限制措施都应该禁止总统、副总统及其配偶进行股票交易，此举导致他们失去了共和党人的支持。

在投票前，参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩称赞该法案是“得到了美国人民的广泛支持”。

但参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默表示，这只会制造“一个又一个漏洞”，并反对增加选民身份识别要求。

舒默周二表示：“共和党今天提出的法案漏洞百出，漏洞百出，简直是解决这一关键问题的倒退。如果共和党参议员真的想阻止议员进行股票交易，他们就不会在法案中加入一项已被参议院民主党人两次否决的‘毒丸法案’——选民身份识别法案。”