Nancy Pelosi Ally Sides with Republicans on Stock Trading Ban
California Democrat Nancy Pelosi has faced criticism for years regarding her "controversial and well-timed" stock trades. Now, several of her fellow Democrats are teaming up with Republicans to unveil legislation aimed at banning U.S. lawmakers and executive branch officials from holding stocks while serving in office.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York plan to introduce a bill in the Senate that would forbid affected individuals from owning stocks in specific companies—even if held via a blind trust.
This legislation would apply to senators, representatives, Capitol Hill staffers, the president, the vice president, and executive branch members.
“It is critical that the American people know that their elected leaders are putting the public first,” Gillibrand said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal, emphasizing they should be “not looking for ways to line their own pockets.”
“Members of Congress and their spouses shouldn’t be using their position to get rich on the stock market,” Hawley added.
The initiative follows last year’s revelations regarding former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, who traded between $1 million and $5 million worth of semiconductor stocks just prior to Congress allocating $52 million to the sector, as reported by Fox News. Those shares were later sold at a loss to avoid “the appearance of impropriety.”
Pelosi has repeatedly faced scrutiny for her "controversial and well-timed" stock transactions.
Meanwhile, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced Wednesday that “it’s time to ban insider trading in Congress.”
Ocasio-Cortez is one of the co-sponsors of the Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act, reintroduced earlier this year by Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL). This bill would prevent members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from owning or trading individual stocks during their terms.
“The ability to individually trade stock erodes the public’s trust in government,” Ocasio-Cortez stated. “When members have access to classified information, we should not be trading in the stock market on it. It’s really that simple.”
Additionally, former President Joe Biden appeared to make a subtle jab at Pelosi prior to leaving office in January.
A Republican senator suggested that Biden’s call for a congressional stock trading ban before exiting the White House could have been a “dig” at Pelosi, whose husband's financial dealings have drawn extensive attention.
“I don’t think (Biden) and Nancy Pelosi are getting along very well right now after Pelosi fired him from being president,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) remarked to Alabama Daily News. “I don’t know how she was able to do that, but she convinced him to get out of the race, which he should have, but it was her.”
Over the years, Nancy and Paul Pelosi have posted some of the most successful investment returns among members of Congress, allegedly achieving over 720% gains in the past decade. As of August, their combined net worth was estimated at over $230 million, according to reports.
Pelosi has shown reluctance toward fully endorsing a ban on stock trading for lawmakers. In 2021, she told reporters, “We are a free market economy,” insisting that members of Congress “should be able to participate in that.”
Commenting separately on stock trading, Sen. Tuberville told ADN, “I’ve said all along that I don’t get anything up here that gives me an opportunity to make money on stocks any more than anybody. I don’t do it myself, I’ve got people that do it. I don’t get involved in that, I don’t understand what’s the big deal. I guess there are people that have made money somehow, some way; I didn’t come up here to do that.”
President Biden’s stance on banning stock trading by members of Congress will be highlighted in an upcoming interview with the progressive labor group More Perfect Union, which is scheduled to be released later this week.