Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley reintroduced a bill to ban members of Congress and their spouses from owning and trading stocks, and used the name of his legislation to troll former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act would give members and their spouses six months after first assuming office to divest any holdings or put them in a blind trust – mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and Treasury bonds would still be allowed.
Any members found in violation of the bill would have to ‘return their profits to American taxpayers.’
Two years after the bill was signed the Government Accountability Office (GAO) would conduct an audit of members’ compliance.
‘Members of Congress and their spouses shouldn’t be using their position to get rich on the stock market,’ Hawley tweeted as he announced the bill.
Also on Tuesday Hawley announced he would introduce legislation likely to be less popular with the American public – a bill that would ban TikTok nationwide.
The GOP senator previously introduced stock ban legislation under a different name last Congress.
Pelosi came under fire for her husband Paul’s prolific stock trading throughout her time leading Democrats in the House. In July Paul unscrupulously purchased $5 million in semiconductor chip stock days before a House vote that handed $52 billion to semiconductor producers. He sold the shares at a loss to avoid ‘misinformation’ – or the appearance of a conflict of interest.
The Pelosis have a combined net worth of around $46 million.
The former speaker has long maintained that she doesn’t discuss stocks with her husband. But video footage from Pelosi’s daughter’s documentary on the former speaker highlighted just how often Paul is in the room while Pelosi is conducting business by phone.