The government has been shut down for weeks. The Speaker of the House refuses to call any votes in the meantime. That means our progress to ban congressional stock trading, with the current Congress, is paused.

In the meantime, we’re devoting our time and attention to our electoral project. So far, we’ve endorsed three candidates who are committed to banning congressional stock trading once and for all.

So what is congressional stock trading, and why is Ban The Trade working so hard to end it, anyhow?

Lawmakers have access to privileged information, and they can use it to inform their trades on the stock market before everyday Americans even know anything is going on. Worse — they have financial incentive to vote against the interests of their constituents to do so.

As a recent example: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who sits on the House Committee on Homeland Security, bought stock in a surveillance tech company called Palantir. Shortly after, the company secured a $30 million contract with ICE.

Instead of asking questions about how the technology could be used on American citizens, she stood by quietly and sold us out. Her reward? The value of her stock sits at over 130% of her original purchase price.

So how is Ban The Trade working to stop corruption like this?

We’ve been part of the push to make congressional stock trading a major issue for members of Congress through our digital pressure campaign, and we have vocal bipartisan support. We even had hopes of passing a bill through Congress this year, but the shutdown has paused that.

In the meantime, we’ve been supporting candidates who have a history of fighting corruption and are committed to banning the trade.

We know that times are not easy right now, and that’s why we’re asking for just $3 today to keep up our election efforts.

It is on all of us to make our democracy healthier and stronger than ever before. Thank you for your continued support of our efforts today.

Committed to a less corrupt future,

Ban The Trade