Discussion · House of Representatives
Joseph D. Morelle Democrat
“I oppose this bill. It does not actually ban members of Congress from owning or selling stocks, and it ignores stock trading by the president. It also adds strict new voter ID rules that will hurt mail-in voting and disrupt the upcoming election.”
“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I will close by saying this. The bill before us is a crude combination of two completely unrelated bills--the so-called Stop Insider Trading Act and the Voter ID Act. The Voter ID Act is, of course, already a crude reformulation of the SAVE America Act. I have addressed both parts of the bill individually. Neither of them deserves passage. Frankly, neither of them deserves much serious debate. The first, the so-called Stop Insider Trading Act, is not a stock trading ban. Despite what everyone has said today, it simply is not. Get the bill. Download it. Read it. It doesn’t require people to sell stock that they own. The bill is a vote to allow Members of Congress to continue to own and trade individual stocks. I don’t know how to be clearer than that. The bill would let Members of Congress keep every single share of stock they own. The bill would allow Members to liquidate their holdings at any time, obviously when it is profitable for them. There is no divestiture required in this bill. The bill does nothing to rein in the unprecedented, absurd, and deeply offensive corruption currently taking place in the White House. The bill is silent on the President. I would note again that so far this year, the President has traded more securities than the entire Congress combined, all 535 Members of the House and Senate. Does anyone believe for a minute that the President has less influence on the markets than individual Members of Congress? Judge that for yourself. Then there is the second fully distinct part of this bill: voter suppression provisions taken right from the SAVE America Act. House Democrats support voter identification. Democrats have included responsible ID provisions in the Freedom to Vote Act and have offered amendments at committee making this point crystal clear. The bill before us, however, would create a more restrictive regime than any currently in use in this country. It is more restrictive than Florida and more restrictive than Texas. The bill would eviscerate mail voting as we know it, forcing voters to include photocopies of their ID every time they mail a ballot. This measure is so extreme the Republican Governor of Ohio, Governor DeWine, vetoed a similar statewide measure because it would burden voters without preventing fraud. This bill would throw our elections into chaos, the effective date being October 20 of 2026, 90 days from today, right in the middle of this midterm election. In 90 days, tens of millions of Americans will have already cast their ballots by person and by mail. This bill would upend the November midterms, and that is exactly the point. That is exactly the goal. I urge my colleagues to oppose this rehash again of the President’s top legislative priority: the SAVE Act. I urge its defeat. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.”
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I will close by saying this. The bill before us is a crude combination of two completely unrelated bills--the so-called Stop Insider Trading Act and the Voter ID Act. The Voter ID Act is, of course, already a crude reformulation of the SAVE America Act. I have addressed both parts of the bill individually. Neither of them deserves passage. Frankly, neither of them deserves much serious debate. The first, the so-called Stop Insider Trading Act, is not a stock trading ban. Despite what everyone has said today, it simply is not. Get the bill. Download it. Read it. It doesn’t require people to sell stock that they own. The bill is a vote to allow Members of Congress to continue to own and trade individual stocks. I don’t know how to be clearer than that. The bill would let Members of Congress keep every single share of stock they own. The bill would allow Members to liquidate their holdings at any time, obviously when it is profitable for them. There is no divestiture required in this bill. The bill does nothing to rein in the unprecedented, absurd, and deeply offensive corruption currently taking place in the White House. The bill is silent on the President. I would note again that so far this year, the President has traded more securities than the entire Congress combined, all 535 Members of the House and Senate. Does anyone believe for a minute that the President has less influence on the markets than individual Members of Congress? Judge that for yourself. Then there is the second fully distinct part of this bill: voter suppression provisions taken right from the SAVE America Act. House Democrats support voter identification. Democrats have included responsible ID provisions in the Freedom to Vote Act and have offered amendments at committee making this point crystal clear. The bill before us, however, would create a more restrictive regime than any currently in use in this country. It is more restrictive than Florida and more restrictive than Texas. The bill would eviscerate mail voting as we know it, forcing voters to include photocopies of their ID every time they mail a ballot. This measure is so extreme the Republican Governor of Ohio, Governor DeWine, vetoed a similar statewide measure because it would burden voters without preventing fraud. This bill would throw our elections into chaos, the effective date being October 20 of 2026, 90 days from today, right in the middle of this midterm election. In 90 days, tens of millions of Americans will have already cast their ballots by person and by mail. This bill would upend the November midterms, and that is exactly the point. That is exactly the goal. I urge my colleagues to oppose this rehash again of the President’s top legislative priority: the SAVE Act. I urge its defeat. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.