Congress resembled a Wall Street trading desk last year, with lawmakers making an estimated total of $355 million worth of stock trades, buying and selling shares of companies based in the U.S. and around the world. At least 113 lawmakers have disclosed stock transactions that were made in 2021 by themselves or family members, according to a Capitol Trades analysis of disclosures and MarketWatch reporting. U.S. lawmakers bought an estimated $180 million worth of stock last year and sold $175 million.
The trading action taking place in both the House and the Senate comes as some lawmakers push for a ban on congressional buying and selling of individual stocks. Stock trading is a bipartisan activity in Washington, widely conducted by both Democrats and Republicans, the disclosures show. Congress as a whole tended to be slightly bullish last year with more buys than sells as the S&P 500 SPX soared and returned 28.4%. Republicans traded a larger dollar amount overall — an estimated $201 million vs. Democrats’ $154 million.
So who were the biggest traders? The table below, based on a Capitol Trades analysis, shows the 41 members of Congress who made stock buys or sells in 2021 with an estimated value of at least $500,000 — or had family members who made such trades.
At the top of the list of the biggest traders on Capitol Hill by dollar volume is Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, who disclosed an estimated $31 million in stock buys and $35 million in stock sales. He’s followed by Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California with $34 million in estimated purchases and $19 million in sales, GOP Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee with $26 million in estimated buys and $26 million in sells, and Democratic Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington state with $15 million in estimated buys and $31 million in sells.
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