Nancy Pelosi said this week that she is not going to block an attempt to ban congress members from selling and buying individual stocks, which she was against.
“I believe in the integrity of the lawmakers in public service. I would like the public to understand this. We must do something to change what we see as an issue, but it is an issue of confidence, and if that is what the congress-members want to do, then that is what we will do,” Pelosi said in a media conference.
The statements were like the ones she made in Jan., when she said that she did not think new rules were needed but that the current House Administration Committee might look into the issue. Pelosi is recorded as personally being against a ban, claiming in Dec. that trading stocks lets members “participate” in the United States’s “free market economy.”
WATCH:
Pelosi included in the press conference that she would rather “secure the fines on people who violate the STOCK Act. It is not enough to ignore behavior.”
The STOCK Act expects congress members to file stock purchases or sells with their clerk within forty-five days of making the trade. Members often flout the reporting requirement, but the enforcement is not even.
“The enactment of the financial-disclosure rules virtually does not exist,” a past investigative counsel in the House’s Office of Congressional Ethics reported to Business Insider. “The committee doesn’t look for late filings. There is no follow-up or notification.”
Republicans and Democrats announced legislation that would stop Congress and their close family members from individual stock trading. A bill put forward by Dem. Virginia Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger and GOP member of Texas Chip Roy says they would need members, dependent children, and spouses to put their investments into blind trusts, while laws announced by GOP Missouri Senator Josh Hawley would expect members to give their stock trades to the Treasury Dept. if they are found to be holding them.
Pelosi did not endorse any new legislation.
“I am a huge believer in our cities, and we asked the Administration Committee to look over choices that members are bringing forth, and they have different opinions on the subject,” she said.
Pelosi made up to $30.4 million worth of stock market trades in 2021. As reported by the money analysis blog Unusual Whales, Nancy Pelosi’s trades had the 6th best profits of all of Congress, and among Dems. Notably, Pelosi used call options for Microsoft stock back in March, under 2 weeks before the United States Army announced an almost $22 billion contract with the company.
