House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that lawmakers should be able to trade stocks while in office, adding that if the law is changed, Supreme Court justices should also be subjected to a ban.
“I do come down always in favor of trusting our members,” the California Democrat said Thursday. “Now, if the impression that is given by some that somebody is doing insider trading, that’s a Justice Department issue, and that has no place in any of this. But to give a blanket attitude of ‘we can’t do this and we can’t do that because we can’t be trusted,’ I just don’t buy into that.”
If Congress votes on legislation to ban stock trading, Pelosi said, it should include the nine Supreme Court justices, who do not have to disclose stock trades as members of Congress are required to do.
“I don’t think the court should be let off the hook,” Pelosi said.
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Pelosi signaled she remains unenthusiastic about a ban.
Pelosi reinforced her earlier dismissal of prohibiting stock trading despite other Democrats, particularly those on the far Left, arguing it should be stopped.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, are among lawmakers who say members of Congress should stop trading stocks, and several prominent Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, of California, agree.
“It is absolutely ludicrous that members of Congress can hold and trade individual stock while in office,” Ocasio-Cortez said last month. “The access and influence we have should be exercised for the public interest, not our profit. It shouldn’t be legal for us to trade individual stock with the info we have.”
Several bills have been introduced that would ban or modify stock trading among House and Senate lawmakers.
But Pelosi insisted the effort hadn’t gained much ground at this point, although she said she is willing to consider legislation if it develops significant support.
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“I said to the House Administration Committee: Review all the bills that are coming in and see where the support is in our caucus,” Pelosi said, adding that there should be “severe penalties,” for those who delay or omit required stock trade reporting.
