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R48641 — Proposals to Limit Member of Congress Financial Activities: Analysis of Introduced Legislation in the 119th Congress

Reports · published 2026-04-29 · v1 · Active · crsreports.congress.gov ↗

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Authors
Jacob R. Straus
Report id
R48641
Summary

In recent years, some Members of Congress have proposed reforms that would prohibit the purchase, sale, or ownership of certain financial instruments by Members of Congress and other specified congressional officers and employees. Additionally, in both the 117th Congress (2021-2022) and the 119th Congress (2025-2026), the Committee on House Administration held a hearing on introduced proposals. Members of the House of Representatives and Senate are not currently required by law or by House or Senate rules to divest themselves of assets or holdings upon taking office. Legislation has been introduced to propose limitations on the financial activities of Members of Congress as a potential means to address real or perceived conflicts of interest. Analysis of introduced legislation reveals several options should the House and/or Senate desire to limit financial activities for Members of Congress, spouses and dependent children, and covered officers and staff. These measures propose to prohibit or limit covered individuals from the holding, purchase, sale, and/or active management of certain types of financial assets; to define the assets that would be included and excluded from filing requirements; to allow or require certain assets to be placed in qualified blind trusts; to broaden public access to Member financial disclosure statements and other filings; and to amend or create penalties for noncompliance. This report examines bills and resolutions introduced in the 119th Congress (2025-2026) that propose to limit or prohibit Members of Congress from owning, buying, or selling certain assets. The report provides an overview of current financial disclosure requirements for Members of Congress and covered congressional employees, analyzes bills in the current Congress that would limit or prohibit certain financial activities by Members of Congress, and discusses the most common approaches included in the introduced legislation. For analysis of similar proposals between the 115th Congress (2017-2018) and the 118th Congress (2023-2024), see CRS Report R47818, Proposals to Limit Financial Activities of Members of Congress: Background and Analysis of Legislative Proposals, by Jacob R. Straus.

Bills cited (40)

Curated by CRS — every bill listed in this report's relatedMaterials. Edge type cited_in_report, gold confidence.

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