WASHINGTON — Republicans on the House Administration Committee cleared a path for their proposal to curb congressional stock trading, advancing it Wednesday along party lines.

The bill could now get a floor vote in the coming weeks, with Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., saying he would like to move it “soon.”

The measure would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from buying new individual stocks. It would require members who want to sell stocks they already own to publicly give notice at least seven days and no more than 14 days before doing so. It would also allow the House and Senate Ethics panels to impose fines of either $2,000 or 10% of the value of the transaction in the covered investment, whichever is greater, along with the net gain realized.

Democrats on the panel said the bill doesn’t go far enough to dissuade members of Congress from insider trading, despite its penalties and reporting requirements.

“I wouldn’t even call this a half measure; it’s a misdirection play,” said Rep. Joseph D. Morelle, D-N.Y., ranking member of the House Administration Committee.

Republicans countered that the legislation is progress in the right direction. Panel Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis., said the bill is a win for accountability in the House.

“Perfection is far too often the enemy of the good in this town. This committee is focused on cleaning up Washington, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Steil said.

The committee ultimately voted, 7-4, to report the bill, as amended. But first, Democrats offered seven amendments of their own, six of which were rejected, while one was withdrawn.

The wish list from Democrats was long and meant to push the legislation closer to a bill backed by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., that would require full divestment from individual stocks. They proposed adding commodities and futures to the stock-trading ban, and they also sought to extend it beyond the legislative branch to the president and vice president.

One sticking point for Democrats was an exception in the GOP bill for transactions made by spouses or dependent children “on behalf, or for the benefit, of any person other than a covered individual.”

“This is a loophole so big you could fly a Qatari jet right through it,” Morelle said. “I call this the grandma loophole … a member’s spouse could freely trade stocks on behalf of their parents or grandparents with a member of Congress in line to inherit the estate.”

After the markup, Steil said leaders had assured him the bill “is going to move to the floor quickly.”

The floor vote could put some in an uncomfortable position. Not every member of Congress wants to rein in their own stock trades, arguing they should be able to participate in the free market and pointing to a 2012 law that already makes it clear lawmakers shouldn’t profit from nonpublic information they learn while doing their jobs.

Republicans hope the bill they drafted, which allows members to keep their existing stocks, will be enough to calm those concerns. On the flip side, many Democrats insist the bill is too weak, and they may be reluctant to hand their GOP colleagues an election-year messaging win on transparency issues.

A bipartisan working group had unveiled consensus legislation in September that they dubbed the Restore Trust in Congress Act that would ban ownership of individual stocks as well as trades. Some had high hopes for that bill, led by Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Seth Magaziner, D-R.I. Rank-and-file members sought to turn up the pressure on congressional leaders to act, with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., filing a discharge petition aimed at forcing a floor vote.

Instead, the bipartisan effort fractured as Luna and other GOP members lined up behind Steil’s new proposal and Democrats pivoted to a more ambitious push to add the president and vice president.

As of Wednesday morning, Steil’s bill had racked up more than 80 Republican co-sponsors but just one Democrat: Josh Riley of New York.

“If the choice in front of us is either do nothing or do something to rein in the corruption around here, then I’m willing to work with anybody to make progress,” Riley said earlier this week. “I think we should force everybody to divest their stocks. I also think that this bill is a hell of a lot better than doing nothing.”

The House Administration panel was also supposed to mark up a separate measure Wednesday that aims to withhold pay for members of Congress during a government shutdown, but it adjourned without doing so. Steil and Morelle said they are still interested in taking up the matter.

“There’s some dialogue about whether or not there could be adjustments or tweaks to the text. I’m open to that, but the principle remains the same. I’m committed to making sure that members of Congress are not receiving pay in the federal government shutdown,” Steil said.

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