Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley has reintroduced the proposal to ban lawmakers and their spouses from owning and trading in stocks while in office.
Dubbed the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act, Sen. Hawley first introduced the proposal during the 118th Congress in 2023. However, it did not progress under the Biden Administration.
“Members of Congress should be fighting for the people they were elected to serve—not day trading at the expense of their constituents,” Sen. Hawley said.
“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.”
Currently, the proposal attracts bipartisan support from both political parties, including from the president, who has expressed strong support for banning lawmakers from stock trading. Some Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also support the proposal.
Meanwhile, Trump has frequently accused former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose husband, Paul Pelosi, is a stock trader, of getting rich through insider trading.
“She has inside information. It’s not right. It’s not appropriate,” Trump told Breitbart in 2022. “She should not be allowed to do that with the stocks. She should not be allowed to do that. It’s not fair to the rest of this country.”
He also took a jab at Pelosi during the 2024 campaign rally in Mesa, Arizona, claiming she was doing better than billionaire Warren Buffett.
“Look at her stocks. I mean, she did better than Warren Buffett. I don’t know about her husband. I don’t know who the hell’s running that deal,” Trump said.
“And now she doesn’t want to change it, where they’re allowed to get inside information.”
According to financial data and analytics platform Unusual Whales, Pelosi maintained an impressive year-over-year trend, outperforming the S&P 500 stock index by 200 percent. Between December 29, 2023, and December 30, 2024, Pelosi’s portfolio grew by 70.9 percent.
Pelosi also broke her 2023 record of 65.5% growth, which by then outperformed the S&P 500 stock index by 165%. In 2024, Pelosi’s portfolio also outperformed Citadel, one of the world’s oldest hedge funds with over $66 billion in assets, Discovery Capital with over $15 billion, and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
Meanwhile, Trump says he would “absolutely” sign the bill into law if Congress passes it. If signed, members of Congress would have 180 days to comply.
“Well, 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.
While seemingly aimed at her, Pelosi opposes the act and defends the lawmakers’ right to benefit from stock trading, despite them being more likely to benefit from non-public information, essentially amounting to insider trading, which is a federal crime that carries up to 20 years in prison.
“We are a free market economy. They should be able to participate in that,” the then-House Speaker said in 2021.
She also denies owning any stocks or having prior knowledge of her husband’s trading decisions.
In 2012, Congress passed the bipartisan Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act that bans lawmakers from using insider information and requires them to report any stock trades within 45 days.
However, the law does not go far enough, and many lawmakers fail to report stock trading as required without consequences. Nonetheless, prosecuting them remains a challenge as it requires proof that they benefited from insider information.
Time to keep pelisi’s husband company’s contract with the frightening govt agencies….. he’s been scamming scamming the govt contracts for decades!!!!!
He was part of the RTC scam when his company was allowed to manage bankrupt companies/property and buy them at discounted prices, under the table….. his companies made Hubdreds of millions $$$$ off the US taxpayers!!!!!