WASHINGTON, DC- You’ve got to hand it to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO)...this is an epic troll.
On Monday, Hawley reintroduced legislation that would ban members of Congress and their family members from trading or holding stocks, Breitbart News reports.
The Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments–the PELOSI Act- would “amend chapter 131 of title 5, United States Code, to prohibit transactions involving certain financial instruments by Members of Congress,” the bill’s text reads.
This is the third time Hawley has introduced similar legislation, having reintroduced the act in January 2023 after initially introducing it in 2022, then named the Banning Insider Trading in Congress Act.
If the act was passed, and there is no reason to believe it will, Congressional members would have 180 days to comply with the legislation,” a press release read.
The Act would also “ban lawmakers and their spouses from holding, purchasing, or selling individual stocks for the duration of the lawmaker's time in office,” Hawley’s press release read.
So prolific has Pelosi’s “luck” been in picking stocks over the years that there is an X page called the Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker that recommends stock picks based on Pelosi’s husband, Paul’s, stock-picking prowess.
According to Quiver Quantitative, the Pelosis have realized returns of 684.92% since May 16, 2014, while the market index has increased by 192.93%.
Pelosi faced criticism from Republicans when she served as Speaker of the House because, as someone who decided what legislation would be brought to the floor, she sometimes personally profited from it.
Case in point. On July 17, 2022, Paul Pelosi purchased Nvidia, a computer manufacturer that uses chips and exports them worldwide. On August 9, 2022, Joe Biden signed the CHIPS Act into law. Nvidia exported the majority of its chips from TCSM, which was incentivized to manufacture in the US due to incentives in the CHIPS Act, receiving $6.6 billion in funding from the CHIPS Act. Nvidia was a beneficiary of the CHIPS Act, despite not being funded directly.
Broadcom is a key manufacturer of semiconductor chips in the US. In 2023, Broadcom sought $50 billion in funding to build plants across the US.
Then there was Palo Alto Networks, which, according to its website, participates in the semiconductor business through its security system powered by AI, which uses semiconductor chips. At the same time, the company didn’t necessarily benefit directly from the CHIPS Act, but the boom in artificial intelligence that resulted benefits the company and, therefore, the Pelosi family.
“Members of Congress should be fighting for the people they were elected to serve–not day trading at the expense of their constituents,” Hawley said in a statement. “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 trust in our nation’s legislative body.”
When Hawley reintroduced the PELOSI Act in 2023, it was after Paul Pelosi purchased the Nvidia stock, as reported by Breitbart News at the time:
The legislation, known as the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act, references former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) who was called out last year after her husband, Paul Pelosi, bought up to $5 million in stock in a semiconductor company right as the Senate was passing legislation to massively subsidize the semiconductor industry.
According to Libs of TikTok, Pelosi’s annual congressional salary is between $174,000 and $223,000. Her estimated net worth is $240 million.
President Trump signalled to TIME Magazine that he would “absolutely” support legislation banning congressional stock trading.
‘Well, I watched Nancy Pelosi get rich through insider information, and I would be okay with it,” the president told the outlet. “If they send that to me, I would do it.”
Hawley’s proposal in some form has bipartisan support. Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) have introduced similar legislation. In the House, Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX), Greg Murphy (R-NC), Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO), and Dan Kildee (D-MI) have supported such a ban. Higher-profile Democrats, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), also support banning stock trading by members of Congress.
Under Hawley’s proposal, lawmakers who do not comply with the Act would have to “forfeit any stock profits to the U.S. Department of the Treasury” and would also face monetary penalties.
