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Chairman Steil's full statement as prepared for delivery:
Chairwoman Foxx, Ranking Member McGovern, and Members of the Committee: Thank you for inviting me to testify today in support of HR 7008, the Stop Insider Trading Act.
I would also like to thank Speaker Johnson, Leader Scalise, Whip Emmer and their teams for their commitment to getting this commonsense bill to the floor.
Also want to thank a handful of our colleagues who have been at the front and center of this debate including Representatives Chip Roy, Brian Fitzpatrick, Tim Burchett, Anna Paulina Luna, and others for their feedback and support throughout this process.
Before the Committee today is a Rules Committee Print which combines the Stop Insider Trading Act with another commonsense measure our Committee
has advanced – the Voter ID Act.
Together, these bills will clean up Congress and strengthen election integrity.
I’ll begin by discussing the second section, which addresses lawmaker stock trading.
This section ensures that lawmakers cannot use their positions to profit off insider information they may garner while serving in Congress.
Under the bill, Members of Congress, their spouses, and their dependent children are prohibited from purchasing securities issued by publicly traded companies.
To sell a stock, Members are required to provide public disclosure at least 7 days in advance to the Clerk of the House or the Secretary of the Senate.
The penalties for violations are steep.
Members will be assessed a fine equal to $2,000 or 10% of the value of the transaction, whichever is greater.
In addition, violators must forfeit any realized gains from a profitable sale.
The legislation is critical to restoring public trust in this institution.
Nearly 15 years ago, Congress passed the STOCK Act, which requires lawmakers to publicly disclose their stock trades.
However, these disclosure rules lack detail and can be filed a month after a transaction.
This, coupled with increased attention to Members’ trades in particular by social media accounts, has fueled public frustration.
I believe it’s time we just stop allowing members to buy new stock.
Doing so removes the appearance of impropriety all together.
Americans should be confident their lawmakers are working for them, not their own stock portfolios.
If someone wants to trade stocks for a living, they should go to Wall Street. If you're here in Washington, you should be working on behalf of the American people.
The reforms in the Stop Insider Trading Act are commonsense – that’s why they’re so overwhelmingly popular.
I’ll now turn to the Voter ID section.
Madam Chair, you may have seen the big news over the weekend. Never-Ending pasta is back at Olive Garden.
I used to work at Olive Garden so this hit close to home.
To safeguard the integrity of their pasta program, Olive Garden has implemented photo ID requirements.
However, in jurisdictions across this country like Illinois, California, and Minnesota, an individual can go to the polls on election day and cast a ballot – without providing confirmation of their identity.
In other words, Madam Chair, we are protecting our breadsticks, more than our ballots, in jurisdictions across this country.
Our Voter ID Act implements a commonsense election integrity measure by requiring voters to show photo ID when casting a ballot in federal elections.
This is another commonsense policy – again, that’s why it’s so popular with the American people.
24 states require a photo ID to vote.
This bill makes that the standard nationwide.
Today, we have a real opportunity to clean up Washington and increase Americans' confidence in our elections.
I encourage all committee members to support this legislation and I look forward to your questions.
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