ATLANTA – Legislation U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., first introduced two years ago to prohibit members of Congress from stock trading has cleared a key hurdle.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the bill Wednesday, sending it to the Senate floor.

“This is essential ethics reform that is long overdue,” Ossoff said Thursday. “Georgians of all political persuasions and Americans of all political persuasions agree that members of Congress should not be playing the stock market while we’re in office.”

Ossoff’s bill, which is cosponsored by Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., would require members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children to place their stock portfolios into a blind trust, something Ossoff did upon taking office in 2021. Violators of the ban would face fines up to the amount of their congressional salary.

Since members of Congress are in a position to influence policy choices that affect U.S. businesses and industries, they should not be able to steer those decisions in a way that would benefit their own financial interests, Ossoff said. Also, lawmakers allowed to engage in stock trading enjoy an unfair advantage over rank-and-file Americans because they have access to information not available to the public, he said.

While Ossoff’s bill enjoyed bipartisan support in the Senate committee, it faces a difficult path moving forward in the Senate, where 60 votes are required to pass legislation. Even if it gets through the Senate, it faces an uncertain future in the U.S. House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a narrow majority.

However, the legislation is popular with the American public. Polls have shown most Americans – Democrats, Republicans, and independents – overwhelmingly support banning stock trading by members of Congress.

Ossoff said he hopes to get a floor vote on his bill in the Senate before Election Day in November.