Congress Bought the Dip: 10 Members Who Bought Before Contract Awards
At least 10 members of Congress purchased stock in companies that received major federal contracts within 30 days of those purchases. This is not a coincidence. It is a pattern, and it is entirely legal under current law.
The Setup
The STOCK Act requires members to disclose trades within 45 days. Federal contract awards are also public. What is legal is not necessarily ethical. Our database cross-references these two timelines to flag members who bought stock in the weeks before a contract was announced.
The 10 Flagged Members
How We Detect This
We flag any BUY transaction where: (1) the company has federal contracts, AND (2) a contract of $10M+ was awarded within 30 days BEFORE or 60 days AFTER the trade date. This is not illegal. It is, however, exactly the kind of behavior the STOCK Act was designed to make visible.
Why Current Law Allows This
The STOCK Act prohibits insider trading by members of Congress using nonpublic information. But federal contract awards, once announced, are public. Members who time their purchases to coincide with publicly announced contracts are exploiting an ambiguity. They are not breaking the law. They are exploiting a gap that the law does not yet close.
The fix is simple: a mandatory blackout period on trading in companies that appear before congressional committees for contract consideration. Such legislation has been introduced twice and failed both times.
Search the Full Database
Every flagged transaction in our database is searchable.