Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has a long resume of accomplishments she would love to be remembered for, but her lasting legacy may be something that sullies her name forever.
Pelosi is the first female Speaker in American history and managed to keep even her slim majorities together for historic votes. And she may be regarded as one of the most consequential Speakers of all time.
However, her lasting legacy may be the establishment of a law named after her that prohibits members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks, following the fortune she and her husband accumulated over the decades, according to Fox News.
What is worse for the former Speaker is that the effort is bipartisan, with members of her own party signing on to support what has been dubbed in the Senate as the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act.
Missouri Republican Rep. Mark Alford introduced his version Wednesday to ban congressional stock trading, which he said is “complementary” to Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s legislation in the Senate.
“As public servants, we should hold ourselves to a higher standard and avoid the mere appearance of corruption,” Rep. Alford said in a press release. “Unfortunately, too many members of Congress are engaging in suspicious stock trades based on non-public information to enrich themselves. These gross violations of the public trust make clear: we must finally take action to ban members and their spouses from owning or selling individual stocks.”
“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.”
“The PELOSI Act bans lawmakers and their spouses from holding, purchasing, or selling individual stocks while in office, but allows investments in diversified mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, or U.S. Treasury bonds,” the press release said.
“The legislation gives current lawmakers 180 days to comply with the restrictions and allows newly elected members of Congress the same 180-day compliance timeline after taking office,” it said.
“Violations of the PELOSI Act require the forfeiture of any stock profits to the U.S. Department of the Treasury as well as monetary penalties imposed by the House and Senate ethics committees,” it said.
The legislation is supported by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who spoke to reporters on Wednesday.
“I don’t think we should have any appearance of impropriety…It’s been abused in the past, & I think sadly, a few bad actors discolor it for everyone,” he said.
In an interview with Time Magazine last month, President Donald Trump said he would sign the legislation into law if it reached his desk.
“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,” he said.
When asked by the reporter if he would sign the legislation, he responded simply with “Absolutely.”
In what may be the toughest blow for former Speaker Pelosi, powerful Democrats have expressed support for the legislation.
This included her successor, House Minority Leader and New York Representative Hakeem Jeffries, who stated last week that he supports measures to prevent members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks, although he did not explicitly endorse the name of the legislation.
California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna has also advocated for years for passing legislation to stop the practice.
“It is shameful that over three years after the pandemic, with the shenanigans from those senators who sold their stock after learning of the pandemic, there still hasn’t been a vote, he said to Benzinga in May 2024.
“Senators making money when the rest of the country was suffering during the pandemic,” he said.
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