Pelosi shifts stance on banning lawmakers from trading individual stocks

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) shifted her public position Wednesday on banning lawmakers and their spouses from owning and trading individual stocks, saying more readily that she would support a ban if members of her caucus wanted to do so.

In December, Pelosi had swiftly shot down the idea that lawmakers and their spouses should not trade individual stocks while in Congress.

“We’re a free-market economy,” Pelosi told reporters then. “They should be able to participate in that.”