Lawmakers expect to vote next week on a proposal to curb stock-trading by members of Congress, an effort months in the making that many Republicans are hoping to point to as they return home to their districts in August. 

Democrats are lining up in opposition as they try to shore up their own campaign talking points, arguing the proposal should go further and also rein in stock-trading by the president.

“It’s so filled with holes it would make Swiss cheese blush,” said House Administration ranking member Joseph D. Morelle, D-N.Y.

Upping the ante, GOP leaders also have plans to fold in language that would require voters to produce photo ID at the polls, a signature issue for President Donald Trump — further narrowing the chances of earning Democrats’ support.

The bill, dubbed the Stop Insider Trading Act and led by House Administration Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis., would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from buying new stocks. It would allow them to keep the ones they already own, as well as buy and sell diversified investment funds. 

That stops short of a stricter consensus bill hammered out by a bipartisan working group last year, which would require lawmakers to offload their stocks within 90 days of taking office.

At least one Republican behind the original bipartisan effort is still on the fence about Steil’s bill.

“All that bill does is allows you to keep your stock, so you’ll even be more encouraged by that to make more votes that are obliging to your stock portfolio,” said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn.

A discharge petition on the consensus bill was filed by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., at the end of last year and earned 84 signatures, including 15 Republicans — enough to tip the scales and force a floor vote if most Democrats had gotten on board. But it ultimately lost steam as Democrats pivoted to demands that any stock-trading ban also include top executive branch officials like the president and vice president.

“If Republicans were serious about cleaning up corruption in this town, they would start at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters Thursday. 

This week, Luna said “Hakeem Jeffries killed the discharge petition,” describing lingering frustration.

Democrats introduced their own legislation folding in the executive branch positions, as well as their own discharge petition aimed at bringing it to the floor. Without Republican support, the effort has languished. 

Next week’s vote on the Steil stock-trading bill is expected to be one of the last House lawmakers will take before heading to their districts for August recess, where they are eager to make the case that Congress is working for the people and cleaning up its dismal approval ratings. Banning stock trading by lawmakers is popular among voters, who see it as a way to rein in potential corruption by politicians who have access to sensitive, market-moving information. 

Even so, Democratic leaders are standing their ground and looking for ways to flip the spotlight back to Trump and his family’s business dealings, a message they hope will resonate ahead of the midterms. 

“When we pass a stock-trading ban, it will apply to members of Congress, along with the president, the vice president, and members of his corrupt administration,” Jeffries said. 

The stock-trading issue has been a thorn in lawmakers’ sides for years, as they try to balance calls for accountability with bipartisan fears about their wallets. Because the Steil bill does not require full divestiture, it could in theory appeal to a broader range of members.  

Further complicating the equation is the plan to add in the voter ID proposal, described by an aide familiar with the discussions. The language is not as broad as Trump’s sweeping election bill known as the SAVE America Act, but most Republicans would still be eager to vote for a slice of that agenda, while it would alienate many Democrats.

If passed, the bill would face an uphill battle in the Senate to get the required 60 votes to cut off debate. A broader stock bill, led by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., advanced out of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last July but faces strong opposition from Senate Republicans. 

“It’s better than nothing,” Hawley said Thursday of Steil’s bill. “I think it’s a step forward, and I would just love to get something we could get enacted into law. So I hope they’ll pass it, and then I’d be pleased to try to push it over here.”

But Burchett said he’s not holding his breath. 

“It’s not going anywhere in the Senate,” the Tennessee Republican said. 

“I don’t have a lot of confidence in that bill. The original bill that I had was the bill they should have passed. We need to eliminate stock trading by members of Congress,” Burchett said.