Dec. 2 (UPI) — A measure that would stop members of Congress from engaging in insider trading might be debated soon after Rep. Anna Paulina Luna filed a discharge petition on Tuesday.
Luna, R-Fla., said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., each have said they support the bill, which is called the Restore Trust in Congress Act.
They “have acknowledged that insider trading in Congress is a serious problem and must be stopped,” Luna said in a social media post on Tuesday.
The two House leaders also “have signaled support to stop the corrupt process of insider trading via individual stock trades,” she added.”But political games have already started to play out behind the scenes.”
Luna initially gave Johnson until the end of September to bring the bipartisan measure to the floor for consideration, according to Roll Call.
Luna said she no longer could wait and filed the discharge petition to remove it from committee and bring it to the floor for immediate consideration.
That effort stalled as the federal budget impasse forced the subsequent 43-day shutdown.
Rep. Tim Burchette, R-Tenn., supports the effort and, in a video added to Luna’s social media post, said Congress “is broken.”
“It’s a complete open sewer,” he continued. “Let’s at least show America we’re trying to do something right.”
Burchette and Luna were the only House members to sign the discharge petition as of Tuesday afternoon.
It needs the signatures of at least 218 House members to force the proposed act’s immediate consideration on the chamber’s floor.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., have said they intend to sign the discharge petition, TheHill reported.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., are the bill’s lead sponsors and have several co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle, including Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.; Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.; and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
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