Congressional stock trading ban gains momentum with support from Pelosi


After initally opposing such an initiative, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is open to a congressional stock trading ban, Axios reports, per Punchbowl News.
At Pelosi's direction, "the House Administration Committee is working on drafting the rules" for a ban, "and the legislation is expected to be put up for a vote this year, likely before the November midterm elections," notes CNBC.
The movement to limit or prohibit members of Congress from owning a stock is already one with bipartisan support across both the House and the Senate, notes Axios. In January, 27 representatives from both sides of the ideological spectrum signed a letter urging Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to consider a ban for lawmakers. And in the Senate, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) have teamed up to draft their own version of a policy.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"When you're elected, you're here to serve the people, not the elite, and [a stock trading ban] I think is a step forward, an important step forward, to restore the faith and trust of the American people in this institution," Daines told CNBC on Wednesday.
What exactly the ban will prohibit — whether lawmakers' family members can still trade, what type of investments are off limits, etc. — still remains to be seen, but Pelosi's support "represents a significant shift for the speaker," especially considering her husband is an active trader, notes CNBC and Axios.
Pelosi had previously told reporters in December that the U.S. is a "free-market economy," and lawmakers "should be able to participate in that" — though she may have cracked the door to some sort of rules change after the fact.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders
-
Mamdani upsets Cuomo in NYC mayoral primary
Speed Read Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary
-
Supreme Court clears third-country deportations
Speed Read The court allowed Trump to temporarily resume deporting migrants to countries they aren't from