Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is facing pushback from some members of her own party for defending the practice of members of Congress trading stocks while in office.
When asked about a Business Insider report finding that dozens of lawmakers and staff had violated a law to prevent insider trading, Pelosi last week said that they should all abide by disclosure laws but maintained: “We are a free-market economy. They should be able to participate in that.”
In response, Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) tweeted: “No. It cannot be a perk of the job for Members to trade on access to information.”
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) – one of the wealthiest members of Congress thanks to his business career that included leading his family’s distillery as well as the gelato brand Talenti – echoed: “I disagree with the Speaker.”
And Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who represents one of the most competitive districts in the nation, wrote that “I disagree strongly” with Pelosi’s stance. “Americans are losing trust in government and we need to show we serve the people, not our personal/political self-interest.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who has said that she doesn’t hold individual stocks or digital assets, reiterated late Friday that she thinks letting members of Congress trade individual stocks is a bad look.
“There is no reason members of Congress should hold and trade individual stock when we write major policy and have access to sensitive information,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “There are many ways members can invest w/o creating actual or appeared conflict of interest, like thrift savings plans or index funds.”
Spanberger introduced a bill earlier this year that would require lawmakers, as well as their spouses and dependent children, to place assets in a blind trust while they’re in office. But lawmakers would still be allowed to own and trade common investments like mutual funds.
“I’ve done it, and believe we all should,” Phillips, a co-sponsor of the bill, said of putting investments into a blind trust.
Pelosi herself also ranks as one of the wealthiest members of Congress, largely because of the real estate and venture capital fortune amassed by her husband, Paul. And while financial disclosures show that her husband engages in stock trades, the Speaker does not own any stocks and her office has stressed that she does not have any involvement.
Spanberger’s legislation has drawn support from colleagues across the spectrum who usually don’t agree on much of anything. But from the far left to the far right, lawmakers of a variety of stripes are behind the idea that members of Congress shouldn’t get to trade stocks when their positions inherently can give them access to market information unavailable to most people.
The 15 co-sponsors of Spanberger’s bill include fellow moderate Democrats, progressives, and even the incoming chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.).
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), an original co-sponsor of the measure, reiterated his support for the measure in response to Walter Shaub, a former director of the Office of Government Ethics during the Obama and Trump administrations, saying that Pelosi’s stance was “ridiculous.”
“Actually, Members of Congress SHOULD NOT be trading stocks themselves while in office,” Roy, one of the most conservative members of the House GOP conference, tweeted.
And earlier this month, Ocasio-Cortez clarified that she does not hold individual stocks or digital assets in response to a question on Instagram, citing her seat on the House Financial Services Committee.
“It is absolutely ludicrous that members of Congress can hold and trade individual stock while in office,” Ocasio-Cortez later tweeted. “The access and influence we have should be exercised for the public interest, not our profit. It shouldn’t be legal for us to trade individual stock with the info we have.”
Lawmakers have been subject to stricter disclosure rules in recent years under a 2012 law, known as the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, that explicitly prohibits them from using non-public information gained from their official duties for profit. It further requires them to report stock transactions within 30 days after they become aware of a reportable stock transaction and no later than 45 days after the transaction.
But numerous members of Congress have been accused of running afoul of the law, either from alleged insider trading or failing to timely report stock transactions.
Last year, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) stepped down as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee after he was accused of engaging in insider trading in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Justice Department ultimately decided earlier this year not to pursue charges against him.
Three other senators at the time had also sold substantial amounts of stock in late January and early February 2020 as members of Congress were receiving private briefings on the virus: Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.). The Justice Department similarly opted not to pursue charges against them either, but the accusations nevertheless became an issue in Loeffler’s Senate runoff campaign, which she ultimately lost.
And this year, two House members have been the subject of ethics investigations.
Following a Business Insider report in March, Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) acknowledged that he had failed to file regular reports on stock transactions worth at least $671,000. He has since placed his assets into a blind trust and signed on as a co-sponsor of Spanberger’s bill in June, five months after it was introduced.
The House Ethics Committee is also reviewing allegations that Rep. Mike Kelly’s (R-Pa.) wife purchased stock — worth between $15,000 to $50,000 — in an iron ore mining company last year based on information the lawmaker would have learned from his official duties.
At the time, Kelly had called on the Trump administration to investigate foreign steel imports that threatened the company, which is located in his district. The Office of Congressional Ethics, which investigates allegations of lawmaker wrongdoing and makes referrals to the House Ethics Committee, found that Kelly’s wife purchased the stock a day after her husband was told that the Commerce Department would begin an investigation.
Kelly has maintained that his wife “made a small investment to show her support for the workers and management of this 100-year bedrock of their hometown.” The case remains under review by the Ethics Committee.
While Pelosi defended the practice of lawmakers and their spouses engaging in stock trades, she stressed that they should abide by transparency laws.
“We have a responsibility to report on the stock,” Pelosi said, “If the people aren’t reporting, they should be.”
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Original Article: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/586499-pelosi-faces-pushback-over-stock-trade-defense
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She’s under fire, LITERALLY ??? 🙂
But of course! She and one-time senator, past VP and President Joe Biden are two of the BIGGEST beneficiaries of that little oversight by we the people. I remember finding out about “insider trading” (a criminal act everywhere else) being practiced with impunity by all in the Halls of Congress when we were all paying close attention to the fight over that horrible health bill. There was a hew and cry and I had understood it was “legally” stopped. However, before Biden entered the presidential race, I read a mention in a column that what they were doing now and including Joe Biden was “giving” info they heard in privileged settings – hearings and/or bills that were sure to be passed to their brother, sister, husband, wife, daughter, son – all who they could benefit, That was even when I still thought of Joe as not the brightest light, but humble and honest – BOY was i sold and bought a Bill of Goods!! Joe went even further however, in enabling his relations to sell his office and influence for a cut! Everyone knew that and still ousted a successful president in order to have Joe!!
This evil schmuck didn’t only sell his office, he sold HIS COUNTRY, to whom ever had the most cash (to give him)! This POS would sell his own mother! ALL THAT MONEY, he thinks, will get him favors, BUT SATAN’s GOT HIM by the short hairs, and our evil lying in chief is about to meet his real master! 🙂 I’m loving it! Have a nice trip, jerk!
Not only my email address will not be published, but apparently nothing I write will be published. Once again what I write are all true things – no bad language nothing al all like that. When I get done this is yet another time that I get a message that I have already posted that exact comment and you won’t publish a duplicate ! OKAY! I get it – I think!?
This is just another example of a Communist Party and a Chinese Communist Regime who believes in “Do what I say, not as I do”.
Pure Evil Communist SCUM!
Americans vs Communists (DemocRATs)
Other people has been prosecuted and sent to jail for inside trading, so what makes members of congress so special that they should be exempt from doing time for this illegal activity, after all they are breaking the law
Isn’t insider trading against the law.? WhAT GIVES?
Pelosi’s office made surer to state that Nancy has not been involved, herself. Her husband gained all the $ because of Nancy’s advice. To think Pelosi said it’s a free society and it’s okay. REALLY?? You lousy crooks. If ordinary American citizens did this, we would be in prison. Martha Stewart did this and WAS in prison. She served her time and learned a lesson. What about all of these Congressional crooks? They should all be thrown out of office and face legal charges. Will it happen??? Not on your life. Like protects like.