House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now on board with a potential ban on members of Congress trading stocks, a new report suggested on Wedne...
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now on board with a potential ban on members of Congress trading stocks, a new report suggested on Wednesday.
The powerful Democrat has shot down the idea multiple times in the past, despite criticism over her husband raking in millions on the stock exchange.
But the California legislator is now working with other Democratic leaders on how to get it done, according to Punchbowl News, after caving to pressure from both sides of the aisle and both chambers of Congress.
Pelosi confirmed it during her Wednesday morning press conference at the US Capitol.
'IWe have to do this to determine something that we see as a problem -- but it is a confidence issue -- and if that's what the members want to do, then that's what we will do,' Pelosi said.
She also confirmed tapping House Administration Committee Chair Rep. Zoe Lofgren to come up with pathways on how to enact the stock trading ban and present those to House leaders.
Pelosi said there was a 'certain criteria' for any legislation that gets her green light to go to the floor.
'There's a certain criteria that I wanted to see with whatever whatever design they have for that,' Pelosi said on Wednesday, apparently changing her tune on Congressional stock trades
'There's a certain criteria that I wanted to see with whatever whatever design they have for that -- that's one, but the other is we have to tighten the fines on those who violate the STOCK Act. But it's simply not sufficient to deter behavior. And then the third, is just really has to be government wide,' Pelosi said.
The STOCK Act, which makes it illegal for lawmakers to use non-public information for private profit and requires them to publicly disclose stock and bond transactions within 45 days.
It could be updated to outright stop lawmakers from trading individual stocks.
As many as 49 legislators and 182 Congressional staffers had violated the STOCK Act by reporting their trades late from January through September 2021, according to a Business Insider report from last year.
Changes to the Ethics in Government Act are also on the table, Wednesday's report suggests. The post-Watergate scandal law called for the mandatory public disclosure of financial records and employment history for public officials and their immediate families.
Pelosi said that a prospective package would also have to include limitations on federal judges' financial activity.
'The Supreme Court has no disclosure. It has no reporting of stock transactions, and it makes important decisions every day. I do believe in the integrity of people in public service, I want the public to have that understanding but we have to do this to deter something that we fear is a problem,' the speaker told reporters.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (pictured with her husband Paul Pelosi outside of 10 Downing Street in the UK in September 2021) has long been opposed to banning stock trades for members of Congress, despite ethics questions over her businessman husband spending millions on stocks and call-in options
While it now appears Pelosi is on board, Wednesday's report still indicates there's a myriad of questions that need to be answered about the details of what the House Speaker would support.
Among the most prominent is whether the ban will extend to lawmakers' family members, as some members of Congress have already called for.
But that could face pushback from Pelosi -- while she herself does not trade stocks, her regular financial disclosures show her husband, Paul Pelosi, regularly making millions off of the financial markets.
Last month it was revealed that the businessman and investor dropped $3.5 million on call options, essentially betting that the stock will go up in value by a certain date and giving an investor the opportunity to buy it at the initial agreed-upon price until then.
Two days after the House Speaker told reporters on December 15 that 'We're a free market economy. '[Lawmakers] should be able to participate in that,' her husband bought significant shares in Alphabet -- Google's parent company -- worth between $500,001 and $1 million.
He also bought shares in Disney worth between $100,001 and $250,000.
Pelosi has denied having any knowledge of or participating in her husband's trading activity.
Meanwhile Pelosi's son has had his own financial woes. Paul Pelosi Jr. was involved in five companies probed by federal agencies before, during or after his time there, and documents recently uncovered by DailyMail.com appear to connect Paul Jr. to a San Francisco bribery and fraud scheme.
Other issues Congress will have to look at will be whether to allow members to keep stocks they owned before coming to Capitol Hill, and whether to waive or defer capital gains tax in a bid to encourage members to sell their shares. The executive branch operates under the latter rule.
The push to ban federal lawmakers from trading individual stocks has gained significant momentum in recent months. Such a measure has found vocal support from a wide range of House lawmakers, from progressive Squad members such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, to pro-Trump Rep. Matt Gaetz, and even recently House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Late last month, more than two dozen House Representatives from across the political spectrum wrote a letter to Pelosi and McCarthy demanding they bring a floor vote on either the Ban Conflicted Trading Act or the TRUST in Congress Act.
The letter, penned by Democratic Rep. Jared Golden from Maine, reads: 'Perhaps this means some of our colleagues will miss out on lucrative investment opportunities. We don't care. We came to Congress to serve our country, not turn a quick buck'
The idea has such widespread support that even progressive 'squad' member Rashida Tlaib and pro-Trump GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz see eye-to-eye on the issue
The former would impose limits on lawmakers and their staff, while the latter extends the individual stock trading ban to Congressional spouses and dependent children. Both have bipartisan support.
Similar measures are being examined in the Senate as well, with Democrat Senators Jon Ossoff and Mark Kelly putting forward a bill that would put the financial investments of lawmakers and their families into a blind trust.
And on Tuesday it was reported by Axios that progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren and Republican Senator Steve Daines want to go a step further with a potential stock trading ban, limiting members of Congress to only hold stock in wider portfolios like a mutual fund.
Pelosi appeared to begin to budge last month, when she said at a press conference: 'I just don't buy into it, but if members want to do that I'm okay with that.'
It came one day after her rival, former President Donald Trump, slammed the California Democrat in a Breitbart interview for participating in the financial trade.
'She should not be allowed to do that with the stocks,' Trump had said of Pelosi. 'It's not fair to the rest of this country.'
DailyMail.com has reached out to Pelosi's office for comment.
Pictured: The New York Stock Exchange. Two bills brought forth in the House already seek to impose limits on members of Congress trading stocks -- one placing limits on lawmakers and staff, while the other extends to family members as well
No comments