Former Speaker Pelosi and other Lawmakers always found excuses not to pass a stock trading ban. They kept delaying and delaying knowing that members of Congress shouldn't trade. Now, Republicans are set to enact on that.
When it came to trading stocks while they were in office, legislators in Congress had relatively little limitations to adhere to; in fact, about a decade ago, they could potentially exploit insider knowledge.
In 2012, while he was still serving as president, Barack Obama approved the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, which prohibits members of Congress and their staff from engaging in financial transactions based on information obtained through private briefings.
This was done in an effort to finally establish some boundaries. In addition to that, it demanded that all trades be made public within forty-five days.
But the recent procession of news about lawmakers who have made profitable trades following private meetings demonstrates just how permeable the system is.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was some sort of an obstacle in lawmakers being banned from trading. This is because she had been vocal about prohibiting people from trading stocks, and rumors indicate that her husband is an active trader.
Now, jump to 2023, and Republican Senator Josh Hawley is introducing legislation seeking to ban lawmakers and their spouses from holding stocks or making new transactions while in office.
This move reportedly comes as a part of Hawley's effort to address the issue of stock trading by members of Congress.
Hawley, like a number of other Republicans, has focused on former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her family in pushing for this ban.
This focus is driven by the fact that Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, sold millions of dollars worth of shares of a computer chipmaker as the House prepared to vote on a bill focused on domestic chip manufacturing.
As a result, concerns were raised regarding the potential for members of Congress to have conflicts of interest as well as the appropriateness of such trading.
This sale took place a year ago when Paul Pelosi sold these shares, and at the time, a spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi stated that he made a loss on the sale of these shares.
The calls for more stringent rules and regulations regarding stock trading from members of Congress were not, however, silenced by this development.
The proposed legislation from Senator Hawley aims to address these concerns and prevent any potential conflicts of interest by prohibiting stock trading by lawmakers and their spouses while in office.
Even after Pelosi changed her position and expressed openness to colleagues voting for stock trading reform in 2022, Democrats 2022 decided against moving forward with a plan to hold a vote on such legislation before the midterm elections.
It has not been possible for legislators to devise a strategy that is acceptable to enough people on both sides of the political aisle for a bill to be passed by Congress.
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