House stalls prediction market ban while Senate moves

House not – After the Senate unanimously voted in April to bar senators from participating in prediction markets, House Republicans are advancing legislation through the House Administration Committee instead of changing chamber rules immediately. Democrats say the slow l

WASHINGTON — The Senate moved first, unanimously agreeing in April to ban senators from participating in prediction markets. It was the kind of decision members didn’t have to fight hard to justify: the markets offer easy opportunities for lawmakers or their staff to profit from inside knowledge.

Kalshi is a clear example of how that concern plays out in public. The platform lets people bet on whether witnesses say certain words during Senate hearings, a structure that raised alarms that someone inside the room could benefit.

But in the House, the question of how quickly to shut that door has turned into a standoff over process.

On Wednesday, the House Administration Committee advanced legislation that would ban members from using prediction markets. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), the committee chair, said the proposal could see a floor vote sometime this year. He also left open the possibility that it could be paired with legislation to restrict lawmakers’ ability to trade stocks. though he said he didn’t know when.

Steil framed the effort as more than housekeeping. “I think we’d be best served if we passed a legal fix, not just a rules change,” he said.

Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.). the committee’s top Democrat. pushed back hard at the committee meeting on Wednesday. asking why Republicans were taking what he called the long way around instead of changing House rules immediately. “What’s the holdup?. We can clean up our own house, and we can do it today by unanimous consent,” Morelle said.

Morelle pointed to the Senate’s approach. “It shouldn’t be hard. The Senate unanimously agreed to amend its rules to immediately and explicitly prohibit senators and their staffs from participating in prediction markets. It was effective immediately. A total ban on participation.”

The contrast is sharpened by a detail that underlines how personal politics can feel in a closed-door legislative fight: resolutions to mirror the Senate action are already sitting in the House. Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) introduced a resolution banning member participation in prediction markets on Wednesday. the same day the Senate unanimously approved one by Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio). Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) introduced another the following week.

Those measures haven’t moved, and Morelle suggested the delay was intentional.

During the committee markup, Morelle raised what he said was a troubling connection between the White House and the industry. He noted that President Donald Trump’s son is an advisor to prediction market companies. whose business models have been blessed by the administration’s novel reading of the law governing event contracts. Morelle told the committee he believed Steil’s approach was meant to stall reform. “I believe this bill. like the Stop Insider Trading Act. is meant to blunt the momentum on real reform. ” he said during the markup.

Steil, for his part, argued that prediction-market bans shouldn’t be handled as a rules fix because enforcement is different.

He said insider trading by lawmakers using prediction markets might already be illegal. even if prediction market trading is not explicitly banned. He also said a legislative fix would allow the House to enforce the ban against recent former members. while a change to chamber rules would not. “A legislative fix is better because if an individual leaves the House, you can actually enforce that,” Steil said.

Still, even that rationale runs into timing realities. Beyond waiting for a floor vote in the House, a legal change would also require approval by the Senate, which Steil said is not guaranteed.

That disagreement over method lands while the House itself has been largely gridlocked this week. The chamber has been all but shut down amid a rebellion from a far-right faction led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), in a long-shot effort to somehow make the Senate pass voting restrictions by Trump. Luna has also been among the most vocal advocates for a beefed-up stock trading ban.

When HuffPost asked Steil what would be wrong with doing both things at once—changing House rules immediately while his legislation moves through the chamber—Steil said he didn’t have jurisdiction over House rules. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.). chair of the House Rules Committee. said she hadn’t considered a rule to ban members from prediction markets. “It sounds like a good idea to me,” Foxx told HuffPost. “We should.”.

The Senate’s ban is already in effect. The House now has a choice it appears to be trying to avoid: match the Senate quickly through its own rules. or insist on a statutory rewrite that would take longer and require another round of approval. In Washington, the delay itself has become the story — and Democrats are treating it like a test of sincerity.

United States Congress House Administration Committee Bryan Steil Joe Morelle Dina Titus Ashley Hinson Bernie Moreno prediction markets Kalshi insider trading Stop Insider Trading Act event contracts House Rules Committee Virginia Foxx Anna Paulina Luna Donald Trump