02
Congressional Stock Ban & Lifetime Lobbying Ban
Ban individual stock trading by members of Congress, senior executive officials, and federal judges, with mandatory blind trusts and clawbacks.
Passage watch
Proposed · not introduced
01 · Pending
Introduced
A sponsor files the legislation and an official bill record is created.
02 · Pending
Committee review
The relevant committee considers the legislation.
03 · Pending
House passage
The House approves the bill or the legislative vehicle carrying its provisions.
04 · Pending
Senate passage
The Senate approves the bill or its legislative vehicle.
05 · Pending
Final text agreed
Both chambers approve the same final text.
06 · Pending
Becomes law
The legislation is signed into law or enacted over a veto.
Latest progress
This Student Plan proposal has not been introduced. No congressional passage milestones are complete.
Plan baseline · · Not an official Congress update
Official record · awaiting introduction
No verified Congress.gov record is linked. H.R. numbers in the blueprint are proposed labels, not confirmed bill identifiers. Official action updates are unavailable until an introduced bill is matched.
Congress.govWhat the bill does
- 1
No individual stock trading for members of Congress, senior executive officials, and federal judges.
- 2
Lifetime ban on former lawmakers becoming registered corporate or foreign lobbyists.
- 3
Statutory authority to audit and confiscate wealth acquired through insider legislative knowledge.
- 4
Impose a 100% federal capital-gains confiscation tax on profits from individual equities, options, or sector funds outside a certified blind trust held by Members of Congress, senior executive officials, federal judges, and their immediate households.
- 5
Levy a 90% federal excise tax on compensation paid to former lawmakers for registered corporate or foreign lobbying; disallow all corporate tax deductions for lobbying firms employing former Members of Congress.
- 6
Amend House Rule XXIII to bar sitting House members and senior staff from holding or trading individual stocks outside a qualified blind trust, with proposed automatic salary-escrow fines enforced by the strengthened Office of Congressional Conduct (OCC).
Why it matters
Serbia's Origin of Assets & Lustration Law sought to remove the financial reward for corruption: public office should not become a route from a public servant's salary to unexplained luxury property and offshore wealth. The U.S. adaptation targets conflicts between congressional briefings, committee decisions, and personal investments in regulated defense, technology, and pharmaceutical companies, followed by lucrative corporate or foreign lobbying work after leaving office. Blind trusts, insider-wealth clawbacks, and a lifetime lobbying ban aim to protect the public trust by closing both the trading and revolving-door routes to private enrichment.
The legislative blueprint
Phase 1 — Day-One House Ethics Lock & Floor Stampede (January–Spring 2029)
Instant House Ban via H.Res. 5 (No Senate Needed)
On January 3, 2029, the proposed 25-member Accountability Caucus uses Speaker-election leverage to seek an amendment to the Code of Official Conduct (House Rule XXIII) in the opening-day Rules Package. It would bar sitting House members and senior staff from holding or trading individual stocks outside a qualified blind trust, enforced through proposed automatic salary-escrow fines by the strengthened OCC. House rules alone would not impose a ban on the Senate, executive branch, or judiciary.
Rules Package Floor Lock
Seek a pre-scheduled, standalone, unamendable roll-call vote under Section 5 ("Orders of Business") of H.Res. 5 before April 15, 2029.
The 380-Vote Electoral Coalition Target
The blueprint seeks a 380–50 House vote by putting members on record on a clean stock-and-lobbying ban. This is a political target, not a recorded result. It then proposes Senate Rule XIV calendar placement to bypass committee referral; calendar placement would not itself overcome a filibuster or guarantee passage.
Phase 2 — Bypassing the 60-Vote Senate Filibuster (Two-Track Pincer)
Track A — 51-Vote Budget Reconciliation (The Profit Clawback)
Use the proposed 25-vote House pivot to seek the 100% Non-Blind-Trust Capital Gains Tax and 90% Revolving-Door Lobbying Surtax in annual reconciliation legislation. The blueprint would remove profits from covered non-blind-trust investments and deny corporate tax deductions for lobbying firms employing former members, even if the statutory ban stalls. These are proposed taxes, not current IRS powers, and remain subject to Byrd Rule and legal review.
Track B — Must-Pass NDAA Base-Text Weld
The proposed 25-member House bloc uses its 3 blocking seats on the House Rules Committee to withhold a rule for the annual NDAA unless its base text includes the full stock-trading ban across Congress, senior executive officials, and the federal judiciary, the lifetime corporate/foreign lobbying ban for former lawmakers, and insider-wealth clawback authority. The Caucus pledges to oppose the Previous Question and the final House–Senate conference report if the provisions are stripped. This is a proposed leverage strategy, not an enacted restriction.
Phase 3 — Appropriations Enforcement & Mezoplenum Field Pressure
Holman Rule & Contractor Lobbying Riders
Using proposed Holman Rule leverage and limitation riders in Defense, Legislative Branch, and FSGG appropriations, the Caucus seeks: "None of the funds made available by this Act may be awarded by contract, grant, or subsidy to any corporation or lobbying entity that employs a former Member of Congress as a registered lobbyist, nor may any SEC or ethics waiver be processed to exempt a covered official from blind-trust divestment." These restrictions would require passage and legal review.
Live Portfolio & K-Street Audits
If a Senator facing re-election in 2030 threatens a procedural hold, the blueprint calls for the home-state Statewide Megaplenum, forensic accounting students, and local labor unions to publish county-by-county audits of the Senator's stock trades while in office and former staffers' corporate lobbying roles. This is proposed public-accountability work, not a claim that any such audit or procedural hold has occurred.