Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Chris Pappas (D-NH)
Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) helped introduce the No Getting Rich in Congress Act, sweeping legislation to crack down on insider trading in Congress and the White House, restore trust in government, and ensure public service is about serving the American people, not personal profit.
The No Getting Rich in Congress Act establishes strong, enforceable standards to prevent officials from profiting from conflicts of interest and close longstanding loopholes that have undermined confidence in federal leadership. This includes banning stock trading by public officials and their families, prohibits lobbying on behalf of foreign adversaries, closes loopholes and regulates shadow lobbying, and extends existing ethics rules to spouses and dependents.
“The American people deserve to have no doubt that their elected officials are working for them – not for personal gain and profit or rich donors or foreign governments. But currently there are far too many loopholes that public officials can use to enrich themselves at the expense of the people they were elected to serve,” said Congressman Pappas. “The No Getting Rich in Congress Act would establish enforceable standards and close loopholes on stock trading, lobbying, and ethics rules for public officials so that we can restore faith and trust in this institution. For me, representing Granite Staters in Congress will always be about public service, not self-service. We should make sure that’s the case across the country and at all levels of government.”
Specifically, the No Getting Rich in Congress Act would:
- Ban trading by public officials and their families. Prohibits the President, Vice President, Members of Congress, candidates for federal office, spouses, and dependents from buying or selling individual stocks, futures, commodities, and cryptocurrency, with strict reporting and enforcement mechanisms, including penalties for violations.
- Prohibit lobbying on behalf of foreign adversaries. Permanently bans former public officials from lobbying on behalf of foreign adversaries, including China, to influence U.S. government decisions.
- Close loopholes and regulate shadow lobbying. Requires spouses of both Members of Congress and senior Administration officials to register and report any effort to influence government decisions, ensuring spouses cannot use public office for personal financial gain.
- Restrict corporate board service. Bars Members and their spouses from serving on or being officers of a corporate board, with strict reporting and conduct requirements for any pre-existing board service.
- Extend existing ethics rules to spouses and dependents. Applies all gift, travel, and reimbursement restrictions that cover Members to their spouses and dependents, preventing backdoor deals and conflicts of interest.
Full text of the legislation, led by Representative Haley Stevens, can be found here.
Background:
Pappas has led the fight against Members of Congress from trading stocks since entering Congress. Pappas has repeatedly broken with his own party in support of the stock trading ban. Following his advocacy in 2022, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi reversed course and announced legislation to ban stock trading by members of Congress would be considered by the House. Pappas led a bipartisan call for a vote on legislation to ban stock trading by members of Congress. In 2023, He joined 20 of his colleagues in calling for leaders of the House Committee on Administration to hold a markup on legislation that would prohibit Members of Congress from trading stocks. Pappas has also fought to change the rules of the House to include a ban on trading stocks by members of Congress
In 2025, Pappas helped introduce the TRUST in Congress Act, which would require Members of Congress — as well as their spouses and dependent children — to put certain investment assets into a qualified blind trust during their entire tenure in Congress, effectively banning them from trading individual stocks. Pappas cosponsors the Restore Trust in Congress Act, legislation that would ban Members of Congress from trading stocks and profiting off of public service, and supported the bipartisan effort to force a vote on it.