An effort to ban stock trading by members of Congress is picking up support from New Hampshire’s two House representatives.

The Trust in Congress Act represents the nuclear option when it comes to stopping members of Congress from making money off the inside information they receive on Capitol Hill by banning them from trading any stocks.

Rep. Chris Pappas became a co-sponsor of the legislation in January, one of only about 50 representatives out of 435 to sign on to the bill.

“I think both parties have been responsible for creating the situation that we've seen. We've got the Stock Act in place, but it's really been equal opportunity in terms of Republicans and Democrats violating the law, and that's why we've got to shore up existing law and go beyond that to make sure no member of Congress or their family member is profiting off information they get from their job,” Pappas said.

The legislation would require a member, their spouse or dependent child to place specified investments into a qualified blind trust until 180 days after the member leaves office.

Rep. Annie Kuster became a co-sponsor of the Trust in Congress Act, as of 10 a.m. Friday. She said the bill stems from accusations in 2020 leveled against U.S. senators who allegedly traded on inside information related to the pandemic.

“And, you know, made lots of money, and that's not the role of members of Congress and it shouldn't be, but the problem was it wasn't illegal conduct,” Kuster said.

“And I think the American people are really outraged by this and they should be, that's why I've pushed back against my leadership including Speaker Pelosi, who was slow to hear the call from members on both sides of the aisle for this legislation," Pappas said.

“I think you've got to have guardrails in place, and we have guardrails, but some members have just blown right through those guardrails."