April 18 (UPI) — Democrats in Congress are renewing a call for legislation to ban members from trading stocks and securities following a flurry of trades during the April market slump.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., disclosed 38 trades made between April 2 — when President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on most imports — and April 9 — when Trump paused many of the tariffs, according to Insider Finance’s Congress Stock Tracker. The tariff announcement sent the stock market into a tailspin, bringing down prices during this time period.

“This is a great time to buy!” Trump posted on social media on April 9.

Greene traded 10 stocks on April 9 and 10 on April 8. Most of her reported trades were purchases valued at between $1,001 and $15,000. She sold off a U.S. Treasury bill valued between $50,001 and $100,000 on April 8.

Rep. Rick Larson, D-Wash., disclosed two trades on April 9. Otherwise Greene is the only other member of Congress to have disclosed trades during that time. Members of Congress have up to 45 days to disclose their stock market activity in accordance with the 2012 STOCK Act, so more disclosures could come in the following weeks.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has joined the calls to ban members from trading stocks. In an appearance on MSNBC, Jeffries alleged that Greene acted on inside information to profit from the dip in the stock market.

Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., shared similar concerns during a congressional hearing on tariffs with U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer on April 9 as Trump pulled back many of the tariffs.

“Is this market manipulation?” Horsford asked of Trump’s use of tariffs.

“No,” Greer responded.

“Why not?” Horsford said. “If it was a plan, how is it not market manipulation?”

“It’s not market manipulation, sir,” Greer said.

Kedric Payne, vice president, general counsel and senior director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, told UPI that whether Congress members are actively engaged in corrupt activities by trading stocks or not, the appearance of corruption has the same effect on the public’s trust in the government.

“In the situation where you have members of Congress disclosing that they’re making trades in stocks, it can appear as though they’re not focused on what the public needs during these volatile times in the stock market,” Payne said. “But they’re more focused on their personal profit. And that diminishes public trust in government.”

Talk of a ban on congressional stock trading is not new, according to Payne. It has been discussed as long as members have traded stocks. The issue is raised because of the potential for lawmakers to have a direct influence on a stock’s value and having access to information that the general public doesn’t.

In a 2023 survey by the Program For Public Consultation, 86% of respondents said members of Congress and family members who live with them should be prohibited from trading stocks in individual companies. This includes 87% who identified as Republicans, 87% who identified as Democrats and 81% independents.

About 87% of respondents agreed that the president, vice president and Supreme Court justices should be prohibited from trading stocks.

Stock trading remains common in Congress. According to campaign financial disclosure reports in 2023 and 2024, 61% of new members of Congress owned stock. Forty-two of 71 new members owned both stocks and widely held investment funds, the Campaign Legal Center reported.

Members of Congress were only required to disclose their trade activities once a year until the STOCK Act was passed. This increased transparency and, for a time, deterred some members from engaging with the stock market, according to Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen.

Holman has drafted legislation for lawmakers to ban stock trading in Congress. It is an issue he said he has worked on for many years. After the STOCK Act was passed, he led a study into its impact, looking at congressional stock trading in the three years prior to its passage and the three years since.

Holman found that stock trading activity declined by two-thirds after the STOCK Act was passed.

“The STOCK Act was necessary legislation to get transparency in stock trading activity,” Holman said. “Quite frankly, I thought that would be enough to stop stock trading by members of Congress simply because of the pitfalls for scandal. But as we’ve seen during the pandemic and once again today, that many members of Congress just don’t seem to care. So we need to take this a step further and just ban stock trading activity altogether by members of Congress.”

Holman referenced the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when congressional disclosures revealed dozens of lawmakers — Republicans and Democrats — made hundreds of moves in the stock market, some related to stocks that would be directly affected by the pandemic.

“The problem with insider trading still exists. We saw it in full color during the pandemic,” Holman said. “And then we’re seeing it again today.”

Despite broad support from the public and some on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill over the years, a congressional stock trading ban has not been adopted.

“Inevitably with any kind of major reform of Congress, it requires the public to actually embarrass Congress into doing the right thing,” Holman said. “Congress doesn’t want to impose these types of restrictions that deny them the means of cashing in. They eventually do impose these types of restrictions when it becomes a very public issue and the public basically pushes Congress into acting.”

Legislation to ban stock trading in Congress has seen a few iterations in recent years with some level of bipartisan support. In 2023, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., sponsored the Bipartisan Ban on Congressional Stock Ownership Act, seeking to force members to divest from stocks, bonds, commodities, futures or any other securities within 180 days of its enactment. This also applied to the spouses of members.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced a bill to end trading and holdings for members of Congress in 2023. It passed the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee in July.

The proposal prohibits members of Congress, the president and the vice president from purchasing stocks and cryptocurrencies. The prohibition extends to these individuals’ spouses and any dependent children in 2027.

“The public doesn’t think we should profit from having information that they don’t have, and we shouldn’t,” Merkley said in a statement.

Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told UPI his organization supports a ban on congressional stock trading but would prefer Congress go a step further.

“Banning stock trading in Congress is helpful. Banning stock ownership, banning the ownership of individual company stock is what’s truly needed,” Libowitz said. “Because as long as members own stocks, even if they’re not looking to quickly profit by selling them, they can sit on a committee hearing and craft a bill that helps someone testifying from a company they own stock in.”

Libowitz adds that CREW supports a ban that would move all congressional stock holdings to a blind trust.

The Merkley legislation would ban lawmakers from holding stocks in a blind trust, marking a significant difference from previous versions of such legislation.

“The average member of Congress outperforms the market and outperforms hedge funds and professional investors with their assets,” Libowitz said. “Something seems off about that. When the general public hears these kinds of stories it’s an easy ask for them. It shouldn’t be a tough decision. Public service is a sacrifice.”