Neguse targets stock sales, lobbying by lawmakers in bid to ‘End Corruption Now’

Left to right: Reps. Magaziner, Deluzio, Ryan, Craig, Neguse, and Sykes (social media photo).

Back in June, Congressman Joe Neguse (D-CO) unveiled an agenda to root out corruption in Washington. The House assistant minority leader has spearheaded a package of legislation put forth by a coalition of relatively new Democratic members of Congress with sweeping reforms to oversight on elected officials. 

So far, the package consists of seven bills with the stated goal of restoring public trust in government by addressing the types of conflicts of interest that, for many Americans, have led to deep cynicism around government. The package is part of what these lawmakers are calling the End Corruption Now agenda, and their proposals would put stronger restrictions on both the executive branch and Congress.

This agenda coincides with Democrats working to further define their message ahead of upcoming midterm elections, with a renewed focus on lowering costs for working people. 

Last week, Neguse introduced one of those bills, the Close the Revolving Door Act of 2025, with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). The legislation would institute a lifetime ban on members of Congress from becoming lobbyists, as well as updating lobbying transparency laws. Neguse and Ocasio-Cortez had previously collaborated on efforts to ban members of Congress from trading stocks, another key part of the agenda.

“Several years ago, Representative Ocasio-Cortez and I led the charge for a ban on stock trading by members of congress, one that I believe is common sense and most Americans support,” Neguse told the Colorado Times Recorder.“When we first introduced that legislation, it only had two members signed on, and now it has over 70 members of the House, across the political spectrum as co-sponsors.” 

“The corruption that we’ve seen, that has really defined Washington and that the Trump administration has supercharged, is something that the American people want to see us tackle,” said Neguse, a Lafayette Democrat whose 2nd Congressional District includes Fort Collins, Boulder, Vail and most of Eagle County.

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet is the Senate sponsor of the bill. Bennet first introduced the Close the Revolving Door Act back in 2010. 

“The revolving door of public service to lobbying is a major reason why everyday Americans struggle to trust our institutions,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a press release. “It erodes the faith and integrity of our lawmaking and cuts against the principle that our service here puts Americans first ahead of our own careers and ambitions. Lobbying by members of Congress should be banned and I am happy to support Rep. Neguse’s bill.”

According to a 2023 report, over 460 former members of Congress are currently employed by lobbying firms. 

“What we have done is get a group of lawmakers together to coalesce around a package of bills that we believe would build on the work we put forth in the TRUST Act to weed out corruption,” Neguse said. “Part of that is banning stock trading in Congress, part of that is banning members of Congress from becoming lobbyists.” 

The Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust (TRUST) in Congress Act, is the latest iteration of a measure that bans members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from trading individual stocks. Brought forth by Rhode Island Congressman Seth Magaziner, the bill would require members to either divest from individual stock holdings or move their investments into a blind trust over the course of their congressional tenure. The bill currently has 80 cosponsors and includes both Republicans and Democrats. 

Although the TRUST in Congress Act is currently the only part of the agenda’s package that has backing from across the aisle, Neguse said he hopes the other bills that are part of the End Corruption Now agenda will see similar bipartisan support. 

“With the End Corruption Now agenda, I think that every one of these measures are broadly supported by the American public. All the data that I’ve seen has shown that the vast majority of Americans don’t believe that their congresspeople should be getting rich off stocks or becoming lobbyists. I hope to see the rest of my colleagues get behind these efforts,” Neguse said. 

One study from the University of Maryland found that a significant bipartisan majority supported restricting former members of Congress from becoming lobbyists.  Another similar study found that an overwhelming majority of Americans support prohibiting stock trading by congresspeople. The study found that 86% of Republicans,  88% of Democrats, and 81% of independents favor the measure. 

Other key pieces of legislation include a measure that bars any CEOs who have been convicted of financial crimes from serving in the executive branch, a bill that protects nonpartisan watchdogs who provide oversight over the White House and other offices from retribution, and the Closing Bribery Loopholes Act, which expands a definition to prohibit public officials from using their position improperly to enrich themselves. 

Another measure, called the Stop Millionaires Using Service For Kickbacks Act or the Stop MUSK Act, named after the former Trump ally, would mandate that certain executive branch employees recuse themselves from “any matters affecting the financial interests of their previous employers for the four-year period.”

Neguse is joined in these measures by Reps. Angie Craig (D-MN), Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Hillary Scholten (D-MI), Emilia Sykes (D-OH), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), and Pat Ryan (D-NY). 

Neguse told the Colorado Times Recorder that party leadership has expressed support for the proposed agenda. Neguse also alluded to possible future pieces of legislation that would tackle campaign finance and electioneering reform.

Editor’s note: This story first appeared on the Colorado Times Recorder website.