# Plain Language Summary: The ETHICS Act

This bill would ban members of Congress, their spouses, and their dependent children from buying and selling individual stocks and similar investments while serving in office. The goal is to prevent lawmakers from making investment decisions based on insider information they gain through their government work.

Here's what would actually change: Starting immediately, members of Congress couldn't buy any stocks, bonds, commodities, or derivatives. Within 90 days, they'd have to stop selling them too. For spouses and dependent children, these same rules would kick in after a transition period. Anyone who already owns these investments would have 120 days to either get rid of them or put them into a "qualified blind trust"—a special account where a trustee manages the investments without telling the member what's being bought or sold. This way, lawmakers wouldn't know which specific stocks they own, eliminating the temptation to trade based on confidential information they learn on the job.

The bill includes some exceptions. Members could still own diversified mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, Treasury bonds, and municipal bonds. Spouses could keep compensation from their own jobs and stocks they received as part of their employment. Family farms and small businesses also get special treatment. Current members would get a 90-day window to sell off their existing stock holdings before the permanent ban takes effect.

The practical effect is straightforward: Congress members would be forced to choose between their investment portfolios and their jobs. They couldn't profit from trading stocks while serving in office, which supporters argue would reduce conflicts of interest and restore public trust that lawmakers aren't using classified information to get rich.

Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act

Krishnamoorthi, Raja

Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act This bill generally prohibits Members of Congress (and their spouses and dependents) from purchasing or selling certain investments, such as individual stocks and related financial instruments that are not diversified investment funds, Treasury securities, or other specified holdings. Violations of this prohibition are subject to specified civil penalties. Members must certify their compliance with the provisions of the bill, and the applicable House or Senate ethics office must make the certifications and related information (e.g., trust agreements; descriptions of assets held in trusts; and federal loans, grants, or related benefits that the Member received) available online. Additionally, the bill restricts certain communications between trustees and beneficiaries related to investments held in qualified blind trusts. Violations of the restriction are subject to specified civil penalties. Further, the bill imposes penalties for failing to comply with existing financial disclosure requirements and requires electronic filing of those disclosures in a searchable format.