Congress
Republicans put pressure on Johnson to advance congressional stock trading ban bill
Two House Republicans vowed Wednesday to pressure Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP leaders to advance a bill banning congressional stock trading in the coming weeks, not content to settle for a mere hearing on the topic.
“A bill will come to the floor,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) said at a press conference outside the House Administration Committee hearing room, where academics were preparing to testify about the ins and outs of current stock trade ethics enforcement.
“This is a fist fight, folks,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) chimed in.
The lawmakers, appearing alongside Democratic Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island, have been pushing for Congress to crack down on member stock trading.
They got a modest win with Johnson’s willingness to let a committee convene a hearing on the politically divisive topic. But they are now doubling down in their efforts to make sure the chamber also holds a markup and floor vote on actual legislation — either the compromise bill requiring members to divest from individual stocks, which the four lawmakers co-sponsored with a bipartisan coalition in September, or another version with similarly strong restrictions.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who is also advocating for the bipartisan stock trading legislation, said in an interview Tuesday she plans to unleash a discharge petition to end-run Johnson and try to force a floor vote on if GOP leaders fail to notice a markup on a congressional stock trading ban bill by the end of Wednesday.
But House GOP leaders are wary that a bipartisan bill or a similar measure will trigger blowback from a swath of Republicans, including some who say stock trading is an important source of income for themselves and their families.
Burchett disagreed, saying that if the House votes to ban congressional stock trading, members who are currently skeptical of the idea of a ban behind the scenes are “going to be our biggest cheerleaders[s]” on the chamber floor.
Political pressure to embrace a ban on stock trading, though, could run up against lawmakers who are protective of their activities in this space.
Fitzpatrick also warned that members’ individual stock performance will be discussed in hearings on any stock trading bill.
“Part of the fact finding is what members have done in terms of trading, sometimes on a daily basis,” Fitzpatrick said.
President Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson will meet at the White House Tuesday with the executives of top artificial intelligence companies, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss private plans.
The meeting comes as Congress is coming under increasing pressure to put federal guardrails on AI development, as fears mount that technological advancements could soon spiral beyond human control.
Responding to some warnings that AI development was on track to cause human extinction by the end of the decade, Johnson has said he wants Trump and AI CEOs to “go in a big room, close the door and sort this out.” He has yet to endorse major legislative action to address the issue, as Trump has resisted calls for government regulations, citing concerns about lagging behind China.
The president and speaker were in attendance at the State Dinner on Thursday night in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, as were OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. It was not immediately clear which of these executives would be invited to next week’s meeting, and who will be participating.
News that the meeting had been scheduled was first reported by Axios.
A group of 10 Democrats has signed on to Rep. Greg Casar’s (D-Texas) bill that would ban superintelligence and pause advanced AI development until a vetting regime could be stood up.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), both of whom are mulling a 2028 presidential run, are cosponsoring the bill, named the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act.
Khanna, in a statement, noted that he convened a hearing this week on AI safety cooperation between the U.S. and China as ranking member of the House China Select Committee with AI experts who underscored the need for a verifiable pause on superintelligence.
AI superintelligence is an as-yet hypothetical form of the advanced technology that surpasses humans’ cognitive capabilities, but exactly when AI crosses the threshold into superintelligence remains contested. The bill would subject violators to a 20-year prison sentence.
The support from prominent progressives in the Democratic caucus comes as the party is navigating how they would approach AI regulation should they retake control of one or both chambers in November.
Other cosponsors include Reps. Analilia Mejia of New Jersey, Yassamin Ansari and Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, Val Hoyle of Oregon, Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, Chuy García of Illinois, Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania and Nydia Velázquez of New York.
“We absolutely have to slow down and regulate the advancement of dangerous AI technologies that have the potential to spiral out-of-control and threaten humanity,” Ansari said.
To Lynch, a string of recent AI-led cyberbreaches has “shown us that the advanced forms of this are out of control,” he said in an interview. “We haven’t really solved that control problem yet, nor have we got the alignment problem right yet.”
Casar’s bill, introduced this week with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), is among the most stringent AI regulations proposed by either party.
Rather than focusing on bans as Casar and his progressive allies have done, centrist Democrats are looking to legislative proposals they say can address the technology’s risks without stifling innovation.
Senate Republicans are discussing whether to call up a data center utility costs bill as they make plans to stay in Washington next week rather than beat an early exit before the midterms.
Two GOP aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the Senate will remain in town amid pressure from some corners of the party to send members home early to campaign.
Asked if the Senate will stay next week, Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday it’s “looking that way.”
While some lawmakers had hoped to move a long-brewing bipartisan energy permitting deal, those hopes have evaporated, and GOP leaders are instead eyeing votes on the Ratepayer Protection Act — a top priority of endangered Ohio Sen. Jon Husted.
Thune said Thursday moving to the data-center-focused bill next week “is an option.” The Senate is also expected to take up a Democratic resolution condemning the Iran war and several presidential nominations.
The Ratepayer Protection Act easily passed the House earlier this month, but some Senate Democrats are arguing it does not go far enough and party leaders could be motivated to deny Husted a pre-election win.
Josh Siegel contributed to this report.
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