Florida Lawmaker Pushes for Discharge Petition to Ban Congressional Stock Trading

Jim Thomas
Tuesday, 02 December 2025 07:47 PM EST

In an escalating effort to address ethical concerns surrounding insider trading by members of Congress, Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) filed a discharge petition Tuesday aimed at forcing House leadership’s hand on the Restore Trust in Congress Act. The measure would require lawmakers to divest or place their assets in blind trusts, drawing support from ethics advocates across partisan lines who argue such rules are necessary to restore public confidence.

Luna, whose office first announced her initiative via press reports, had long warned that legislative action was unlikely without a procedural intervention. Now, she insists the clock is ticking for leadership to act decisively on trading bans if they wish to avoid accountability over loopholes lawmakers have allegedly exploited since 2012.

The bipartisan proposal — introduced earlier this year by Reps. Chip Roy and Seth Magaziner — has gained momentum from documented instances of unusually strong market returns linked to some lawmakers’ holdings, prompting calls for stricter enforcement. While the bill enjoys broad support in principle among members like Luna and Tim Burchett, it represents a direct challenge to leadership control over rule changes.

This mechanism requires signatures from 218 colleagues to force debate — an unlikely hurdle given its public nature challenges party leaders significantly. However, conservative lawmakers have increasingly used such petitions to bypass committee processes or stalled legislation on other fronts like proxy voting for new parents.

The current strategy follows the most recent discharge petition effort regarding Justice Department records related to late Jeffrey Epstein. It also recalls a similar maneuver this year that stalled a proposal on proxy voting after leadership secured enough opposition votes through an alternative majority mechanism — effectively blocking debate before it begins floor proceedings.

Opponents argue restrictions would further limit lawmakers’ financial flexibility, though many have not received pay raises since 2009 and face complex enforcement questions under the STOCK Act. As public scrutiny grows over potential conflicts of interest, including holdings among spouses, these procedural battles signal a deepening national debate about ethics in government.