Pelosi Joins Growing Bipartisan Support for Ban on Stock Trading in Congress
Summary from the AllSides News Team
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that she would support a ban on members of Congress trading stocks so long as the ban was “government-wide.”
Pelosi’s public position on the issue has changed in recent months, shifting from direct opposition in December to apparent openness in January. Pelosi singled out the judiciary branch in her "government-wide" stipulation, saying, “The Supreme Court has no disclosure. It has no reporting of stock transactions. And it makes important decisions every day.” Pelosi is the latest top congressional leader to voice support for such a proposal, although an analysis from The Intercept (Left) suggested a petition from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) may have forced Pelosi's hand. Adding to a January trading ban proposal by Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), multiple outlets reported Tuesday that Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) were working on their own proposal. Furthermore, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told Axios (Center) he planned to discuss the issue with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). Pelosi confirmed that House members were also working on their own proposal.
Coverage was widespread across the spectrum on Wednesday, with a particular focus on Pelosi’s announcement of support. Coverage on both sides noted how Pelosi's public position on the issue had shifted over time. Some coverage from the right directly criticized Pelosi; a New York Post (Lean Right) headline described a push to “ban Pelosi-style stock trading.”
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
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.”
From the Right
Push to ban Pelosi-style stock trading in Congress gains steam with new bipartisan bill
Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Steve Daines are teaming up on the first bipartisan Senate bill to prohibit stock trading by members of Congress and their spouses — adding to growing momentum on both sides of the aisle for a ban on the practice.
From the Left
Pelosi, McCarthy, McConnell, and Schumer all say they're open to a congressional stock-trade ban. But details could derail this rare bipartisanship. 
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently called her top Republican counterpart Kevin McCarthy a "moron," while McCarthy joked — maybe? — that he'd hit Pelosi with a gavel.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, has accused his Democratic peer, the Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, of "angry incompetence" either belying weakness or a tendency to bully. Schumer has chided McConnell as a Vladimir Putin toady who's personally responsible for, in his estimation, almost pushing Americans over a cliff to financial ruin.
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