Sweeping bipartisan bill would ban senior officials from buying, selling or trading individual stocks and derivatives, and from betting in prediction markets
Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander (NH-02) has introduced a bipartisan bill to ban stock trading and prediction market betting for senior officials across all three branches of government.
The Public Service Accountability Act aims to restore public trust by prohibiting senior officials across all three branches of the US government from trading individual stocks or betting on prediction markets for the duration of their federal service.
Congresswoman Goodlander said that while inside trading is illegal under federal law “loopholes, toothless penalties, and weak enforcement” have created the conditions for senior US officials to personally profit off positions of public trust.
Introduced with Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), the bill has been proposed to expressly ban individual stock trading and prediction market activity across all branches of the federal government.
“Public service is a sacred trust. But right now, senior American officials in some of the most powerful positions of public trust can sit in on a briefing in the morning and trade on what they heard that afternoon – making decisions about war, about tariffs, about billion-dollar court cases and personally profiting from the outcomes,” said Congresswoman Goodlander.
“That’s dead wrong, and our bipartisan bill will help put a stop to this corrupt betrayal of trust by closing gaping loopholes and making a commonsense rule of law crystal clear: that in America, people who hold public power must be accountable to the American people and serve the public interest – not their own personal profits.”
Congressman Fitzpatrick said: “Public service is a duty, not an investment strategy. The American people deserve to know that their leaders are making decisions based on the national interest, not personal financial gain.
“By closing loopholes around stock trading and prediction markets, this bipartisan legislation sets a clear standard across all three branches: if you are entrusted with public power, your obligation is to the people – not your portfolio.”
Currently, the standard penalty for breaking federal disclosure rules is a $200 fine, and no member of Congress has ever been prosecuted under the STOCK Act.
The Public Service Accountability Act would end this “weak enforcement and ineffective slaps on the wrist” by requiring violators to give up every dollar of profit from the transaction and pay a penalty equal to 10 per cent of the value of the investment.
Goodlander has repeatedly advocated for restoring public trust in government and is leading efforts in Congress to ensure that public officials cannot use public power for personal financial gain.
In September 2025, she cosponsored the bipartisan Restore Trust in Congress Act, which would ban members of Congress, their spouses, dependent children, and trustees from holding or trading stocks and other similar assets.
During this year’s committee markup of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, the annual funding bill for the Department of Defense, Goodlander led an amendment prohibiting senior Pentagon officials from owning or trading individual stocks and participating in prediction markets.