Drayer, Drayer, Drayer, you're either too dumb to know how dumb you are, or you're being highly disingenuous with your usual simping for MAGA and Trump.
Maybe we give you too much credit and it's actually the former - I always wondered if the 54 in your handle represented your IQ?
(And Bishy isn't much brighter when he parrots your stupid uninformed tweets.)
Now, where do I begin to debunk your extremely-disingenuous post?
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The tweet leaves out the biggest piece of context: The bill included a voter ID provision, which is the main reason it failed on a party-line vote.
What the bill actually does
The Stop Insider Trading Act started as Rep. Bryan Steil's (R-Wis.) House bill, with Sen. Ricketts introducing the Senate companion in March. It would bar members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from buying publicly traded stocks, and require public notice before any stock sale. That notice would have to come 7 to 14 days before a sale, and violations would carry a penalty of $2,000 or 10% of the investment's value, whichever is greater, plus forfeiture of any net gain. Members could keep their current portfolios, and
executive-branch officials aren't covered.
The voter ID rider
The bill also contains voter ID language taken from the SAVE America Act. Democrats have repeatedly blocked that measure this year. They called the addition a "poison pill" and voter suppression. Republicans countered that photo ID shouldn't be controversial and pointed to polling showing public support. Schumer said the bill was "built to fail" because of that provision. Democrats also argued the provision would gut mail voting.
Democrats' substantive objections
- It's a ban on buying, not on owning or trading. Members of both parties acknowledged it wouldn't fully ban congressional stock trading, since lawmakers could still profit from sales.
- Schumer objected that it would explicitly let members keep trading stock in privately held companies, including ones they oversee.
- Hakeem Jeffries noted it doesn't cover the president, vice president, or cabinet.
Politics and timing
- This was the Senate's last act before the election recess, paired with a data center utility-cost bill that also failed. Both votes were expected to fall short and were meant to put Democrats on the record.
- Ricketts is in a competitive race in Nebraska, and his independent opponent, Dan Osborn, has accused him of profiting heavily from his stock portfolio while in the Senate. Osborn points to an estimated $10 million in gains in April 2025, when stocks rebounded after Trump eased his "Liberation Day" tariffs.
- This is the second time Senate Democrats have blocked this bill. An earlier Senate vote in July was also derailed by the voter ID provision.
The competing bill
Last summer the Senate Homeland Security Committee advanced a stricter bill from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) that would ban both trading and ownership of stocks by lawmakers, the president, the vice president, and their families. It still hasn't gotten a floor vote. Sen. Tim Kaine argued that if Republicans really wanted a ban, they would bring a clean stock ban to the floor. Schumer said his caucus is "ready to go" on a real ban.
How each side frames it
- Republicans say Democrats voted against a stock trading ban that passed the House with bipartisan support. That House vote in July was 232–198, with 13 Democrats in favor.
- Democrats say the bill was a weak ban deliberately tied to a voting measure they'd never accept, so it would fail.
Both framings contain some truth. The tweet's version, "all Democrats voted no," is accurate but omits the voter ID rider. The Pelosi GIF is political commentary; she's in the House and had no role in this Senate vote.
Sources:
12axes.vercel.app
