Trump Pushes Stock Trading Ban as Pelosi Engulfed in Allegations
Frustration is growing among House Republicans as momentum stalls on legislation that would restrict members of Congress from trading individual stocks — a reform many lawmakers say is long overdue.
Despite years of bipartisan calls to address potential conflicts of interest on Capitol Hill, the issue has once again become bogged down in the legislative process. The delay is particularly notable after Donald J. Trump publicly urged Congress to act during his recent State of the Union Address.
Last month, the House Administration Committee advanced legislation introduced by Chairman Bryan Steil. The proposal would allow members of Congress, along with their spouses and dependent children, to keep their existing stock holdings but would prohibit them from purchasing additional individual stocks going forward.
However, since clearing committee, the bill has seen no further action — prompting irritation among rank-and-file Republicans who say leadership should move faster on an issue that commands overwhelming public support.
“If you have a strong bipartisan majority in Congress (supporting the issue), if you have overwhelming support from the public. You have the president of the United States specifically referencing it in the State of the Union, why pray tell is it not put on the floor?” said Brian Fitzpatrick.
He argued that Congress has delayed reform for far too long.
“It’s very frustrating,” Fitzpatrick said. “This should have been the first thing we took up.”
Fitzpatrick previously backed a bipartisan proposal known as the Restore Trust in Congress Act, introduced by Chip Roy and Seth Magaziner. That measure would prohibit lawmakers — as well as their spouses, dependent children, and trustees — from owning, buying, or selling individual stocks entirely.
In an effort to force the issue to the House floor, Anna Paulina Luna introduced a discharge petition aimed at triggering a vote on the Roy–Magaziner legislation.
Instead, House leadership opted to advance Steil’s narrower proposal — the Stop Insider Trading Act — through committee.
During Tuesday night’s address to Congress, President Trump pressed lawmakers to move forward quickly with the measure.
“without delay.”
The debate has also reignited scrutiny of some lawmakers’ extraordinary investment success — particularly that of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose trading record has long drawn criticism from transparency advocates.
Speaking recently at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, Pelosi rejected the notion that her decades in public office were motivated by financial gain.
“At the time, I was too, the highest paid person on Capitol Hill. As a woman, that was a big deal. Not that I was there for the money,” Pelosi said.
Yet financial data has raised eyebrows. According to Quiver Quantitative, Pelosi’s estimated net worth reached roughly $270 million by early 2026 — representing a staggering 2,292 percent increase over her 37 years in Congress.
In 2024 alone, her investment portfolio reportedly outperformed the S&P 500 by nearly 200 percent, prompting renewed calls for stricter rules governing stock ownership by lawmakers.
Data from Unusual Whales found that Pelosi’s portfolio grew 70.9 percent between December 29, 2023, and December 30, 2024, far exceeding the S&P 500’s 24.9 percent return during the same period.
The performance even surpassed many of the world’s largest hedge funds — intensifying public debate over whether lawmakers benefit from privileged access to market-moving information.
President Trump himself weighed in on the controversy last year, calling for Pelosi to be investigated for potential insider trading.
Critics argue the broader problem extends beyond a single lawmaker.
In a recent column for the Washington Examiner, Jaimie Erker warned that congressional trading activity remains widespread.
Erker, who works with the Centennial Institute, cited research suggesting that more than 100 lawmakers collectively execute around 10,000 trades annually — many timed around pending legislation that could influence market prices.
She also pointed out that penalties for lawmakers found violating insider trading laws are minimal compared to those imposed on ordinary Americans.
“Obviously, there is a double standard in the deterrence of insider trading. What happens to a society that holds its elected officials to a different standard than the very people they represent?” she wrote.
For many voters — and an increasing number of lawmakers — the question now is whether Congress will finally act to restore public trust or continue delaying reform on an issue that has shadowed Capitol Hill for years.