Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that she would consider proposals to ban stock trading by members of Congress, reversing the stance she took on the issue in December.
The remarks also happened to come one day after former President Donald Trump advocated a ban on stock trading—for Pelosi.
“It’s not right. It’s not appropriate,” Trump told far-right news outlet Breitbart on Wednesday. “She should not be allowed to do that with the stocks…It’s not fair to the rest of this country,” he said.
Speaker Pelosi does not trade stocks herself, but many aspiring traders watch and copy the investments of her husband, Paul Pelosi, when they’re made public via current disclosure rules. There are even TikTok videos explaining how to invest like the Pelosis.
At the speaker’s weekly press conference with reporters on Thursday, Pelosi acknowledged she was open to changing the rules, although she stressed it wasn’t necessary because she trusted her colleagues and there are already disclosure laws in place. “I just don’t buy into it, but if members want to do that I’m okay with that,” Pelosi said. “I have great confidence in the integrity of my members.”
Pelosi has asked the House Administration Committee to review the STOCK Act, a law that requires lawmakers to report all trades and file reports within 45 days. She also said she is open to increased fines for members who don’t meet those deadlines. The committee, she said, would review all trading-related bills, some of which would ban congresspeople and close family members from trading stocks.
Pelosi did not comment on whether she thought representatives’ family members should be banned. “I think there are two [proposals],” she said. “Each has like 14 members signing it so far. Maybe more will come, but that’s what we have seen.”
If family members were banned from trading, the speaker’s husband would be out of a job. Trump also recently called out Paul Pelosi for his frequent trades.
Others have been closely watching Senate disclosures. “Investors perceive that senators may have insider information,” Dinesh Hasija, an assistant professor of strategic management at Augusta University in Georgia, told NPR. “And we see abnormal positive returns when there’s a disclosure by a senator.”
In recent weeks, a bipartisan coalition of representatives has pushed to ban stock trading on an individual level for lawmakers and their close family members. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) Has said that he backs the idea.
Recent polling by Data for Progress, a progressive think tank, found that 67% of voters support a ban on trading in Congress.
A recent investigation by Insider found that dozens of lawmakers and 200 senior congressional staffers had not complied with stock disclosure laws. The Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit promoting ethics in campaigns and Congress, has found multiple instances of Congress members trading in sectors that they receive advanced or classified information in.
If there are concerns that a member is engaged in insider trading, Pelosi said, “that’s a Justice Department issue.”
Pelosi also suggested that she would be on board to tighten regulations around Supreme Court justices and stock trading. Justices currently have no disclosure rules, and their decisions impact “every subject you can name,” she said.
“I don’t think the court should be let off the hook,” Pelosi said Thursday, adding that any legislation around congressional trading should include the Supreme Court.
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