Fifty-one incoming U.S. House Democrats asked party leaders Thursday to put a ban on individual stock trading into House rules on the first day of the 120th Congress in January, States Newsroom reported¹.

The one-page letter went to House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and other top House Democrats, according to the report, which published a link to the letter¹. Signers asked the House to bar members and their spouses from owning and trading individual stocks¹.

The letter said existing insider-trading laws are insufficient and that a rule would be a first step toward broader limits on officials and spouses, States Newsroom reported¹. More than half of those who signed had flipped seats from Republican to Democrat, the outlet said¹. Signers included newly elected members from more than 20 states, including Arizona, California, Iowa, North Carolina and Wisconsin¹.

The letter argued that Democrats still needed to earn back public trust after winning the election and that members should not leave office with large stock gains, according to the text quoted by States Newsroom¹.

The offices of Jeffries and Clark did not immediately respond to a request for comment, States Newsroom said¹.

A stock-trading limit has drawn bipartisan interest for years¹. Thirteen House Democrats joined Republicans in passing a measure in July that critics said did not go far enough and that was attached to a voter-identification provision; Senate Democrats later blocked that bill, the report said¹. Whether Democratic leaders will include a ban in the January rules package was not answered in the reporting¹.