Nancy Pelosi Gets Nightmare News – Given Just 180 Days
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, long hailed by Democrats for her trailblazing political career, may find her legacy overshadowed by legislation that bears her name—not as a tribute, but as a rebuke.
Pelosi’s tenure was marked by historic milestones. She became the first woman to wield the Speaker’s gavel and leveraged slim Democratic majorities to push through major left-wing legislative initiatives. Liberals laud her as one of the most influential Speakers in American history. But as time goes on, her role as the unintentional face of congressional stock trading reform may become her most lasting legacy.
Legislation dubbed the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act is gaining serious bipartisan traction in Washington. The bill seeks to ban lawmakers and their spouses from trading individual stocks—a direct response to years of criticism over Pelosi and her husband Paul’s well-timed and lucrative market moves, as reported by Fox News.
On Wednesday, Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO) introduced the House companion to a Senate bill spearheaded by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), both aimed at ending what many see as a glaring ethical lapse in Congress.
“As public servants, we should hold ourselves to a higher standard and avoid the mere appearance of corruption,” Alford said in a press release. “Unfortunately, too many members of Congress are engaging in suspicious stock trades based on non-public information to enrich themselves. These gross violations of the public trust make clear: we must finally take action to ban members and their spouses from owning or selling individual stocks.”
Sen. Hawley echoed that sentiment: “Members of Congress should be fighting for the people they were elected to serve—not day trading at the expense of their constituents. Americans have seen politician after politician turn a profit using information not available to the general public. It’s time we ban all members of Congress from trading and holding stocks and restore Americans’ trust in our nation’s legislative body.”
According to the press release, the PELOSI Act “bans lawmakers and their spouses from holding, purchasing, or selling individual stocks while in office, but allows investments in diversified mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, or U.S. Treasury bonds.”
Lawmakers would have 180 days to divest or restructure their holdings to comply. New members would face the same deadline upon entering office. Violations come with real consequences, including the forfeiture of profits to the U.S. Treasury and additional penalties from the House and Senate ethics committees.
House Speaker Mike Johnson voiced support for the measure, telling reporters, “I don’t think we should have any appearance of impropriety… It’s been abused in the past, & I think sadly, a few bad actors discolor it for everyone.”
Even President Donald Trump—the current President of the United States—signaled he would sign the bill into law if it landed on his desk.
“I watched Nancy Pelosi get rich through insider information, and I would be okay with it. If they send that to me, I would do it,” Trump told Time Magazine in a March interview. When asked whether he’d sign the bill, he answered definitively: “Absolutely.”
Adding salt to the wound, several prominent Democrats have voiced support for stock trading reform, though not all are eager to embrace the legislation’s name. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Pelosi’s successor, backed reforms in principle, while stopping short of endorsing the PELOSI Act’s branding.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a long-time advocate for banning congressional stock trades, was blunt in his criticism of inaction.
“It is shameful that over three years after the pandemic, with the shenanigans from those senators who sold their stock after learning of the pandemic, there still hasn’t been a vote,” he told Benzinga in May 2024.
“Senators making money when the rest of the country was suffering during the pandemic,” he added.
As bipartisan pressure mounts and public trust in Congress continues to erode, the PELOSI Act may not only reshape the rules on Capitol Hill—it could also reshape how history remembers Nancy Pelosi.