Five of the 33 congressional trades disclosed between Aug. 15 and Aug. 22 were filed after the 45-day STOCK Act deadline. That is a 15% late-filing rate for the week, a reminder that compliance gaps persist even as lawmakers face growing public scrutiny over their portfolios.
Weekly trading snapshot
Lawmakers reported 33 trades in 29 stocks during the week. Buys outnumbered sells 19 to 14. Seven members of Congress traded, and all seven were Republicans.
Latest congressional trades show the heaviest activity came from Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), who filed 11 trades. Rep. Thomas H. Kean, Jr. (R-NJ) and Rep. Tony Wied (R-WI) each filed six. Rep. David J. Taylor (R-OH) filed five, and Rep. Rick W. Allen (R-GA) filed three.
Boozman leads in volume and late filings
Boozman's 11 trades spanned multiple sectors, including technology, financials, and industrials. He bought shares of Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) and sold shares of AT&T Inc. (T). Two of his trades were filed late, according to the disclosure timestamps.
Kean's six trades included purchases in the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM), which saw two buys total for the week. Wied also traded actively, with a mix of buys and sells across health care and consumer names.
Top stocks: Alphabet, Cboe, SPYM
Alphabet was the most-traded stock of the week, with three filings: two buys and one sell. The trades ranged from $1,001 to $15,000, the standard reporting band for most congressional transactions.
Cboe Global Markets (CBOE) had two trades, one buy and one sell. The SPYM ETF saw two buys and no sells, suggesting some lawmakers added broad market exposure. Installed Building Products (IBP) had a single buy, and AT&T had a single sell.
Late filings break the 45-day rule
The STOCK Act requires lawmakers to disclose trades within 45 days of execution. The five late filings this week are part of a recurring pattern. Since 2021, more than 5,000 late disclosures have been reported, according to records compiled by transparency groups.
Late filings carry no automatic penalty. The House Ethics Committee and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics can issue fines, but they rarely do. In 2023, the House began publishing late disclosure reports, but enforcement remains spotty.
The five late trades this week came from three different lawmakers. None of the late filings involved the most active traders, Boozman or Kean. The delays ranged from 12 days to 60 days past the deadline.
What the trades show
The mix of buys and sells this week does not point to a single sector bet. Boozman's portfolio activity included financial and industrial stocks. Kean's ETF purchase suggests a passive approach. Wied's trades touched consumer and health care names.
All 33 trades fell within the $1,001 to $15,000 range, which is the most common disclosure band. No trades exceeded $50,000, and none involved IPOs or private placements.
The late filings are the outlier. They are a reminder that the STOCK Act's reporting clock does not always hold. For investors tracking congressional activity, the delay means the public often learns of trades weeks after they happen.
Next week's disclosures will show whether the late-filing rate improves. The data for Aug. 15-22 is now complete, with 33 trades and 29 stocks on record.