House approves voter ID, stock trading bill
By: Zachary Schermele
USA Today
WASHINGTON - The House advanced a bill to implement voter identification requirements before the midterm elections, attaching it to unrelated legislation that would also limit the ability of members of Congress to trade stocks.
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The Voter ID Act, which was included inside the Stop Insider Trading Act, faces a likely doomed future in the Senate, which it would need 60 votes to pass. Still the House approved it largely along party line son July 22, [2026] wit a 232-198 vote.
..... A December [2025] study by Common Cause found that last year [2025] members of Congress from both parties executed 13,324 trades totaling $635.6 million, Reuters reported.
..... The House action came as the 235-seat chamber was on the verge of starting a five-week recess that most will use to campaign for reelection.
..... The legislation, partially prompted by President Donald Trump's push for Congress to pass elements of the controversialists SAVE America Act, may not materialize into law. But it could influence the midterms, sparking campaign-trial debates about corruption in congress and election reform, two salient issues for voters.
..... Republicans are already accusing Democrats of voting against what they called commonsense provisions that Americans support. Thirteen Democrats voted fir the bill.
..... Most Democrats, meanwhile, opposed it, with critics such as Representative Joe Morelle, D-New York, arguing Republicans conjured a legislative "trick" that would "eviscerate" mail-in voting.
..... "Make no mistake; this is a trap," said Representative Seth Magaziner, D-Rhode Island. "This bill to make it harder for eligible Americans to vote, and the Republican leadership is trying to trick up into supporting it by calling it a congressional stock trading ban."
..... Representative Jason Crow, D-Colorado, accused GOP lawmakers of not accurately characterizing the limitation of the trading prohibition. He called on the House to advance a stricter bill.
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"This Republican bill doesn't prevent insider trading or ban stock trading," he said in a statement. "Instead, it creates loophole that allow members of Congress and the president to keep enriching themselves while in office."
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Republicans, meanwhile, aid a recent election scandal that came to light in New Jersey added to the urgency of the measure passing. The Garden State's governor blamed a program error at the state's Department of Motor Vehicles for allowing roughly 6,600 non-citizens to be incorrectly added to the voter roles [about 400 actually casts ballot].
..... "Voter ID ensures the sanctity of our election and ensures confidence by the American people in our elections," said Representative Mike Lawler, R-New York. "The American people should watch how every single member votes on this bill."
..... The Stop Insider Trading Act, which was paired with the voter ID bill, would prevent members of Congress, their spouses , and dependent children from purchasing individual stocks while serving in office. They would not, however, be force dot sell stocks they currently have.
..... Contributing: Reuters