January 1, Pelosi Reverses Course on Controversial Practice

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) directed the House Administration Committee to draft a bill banning members of Congress and senior staffers from trading individual stocks.

Her announcement is an about-face from her previous position. Pelosi came under fire in December after saying that lawmakers should be able to participate in the “free-market economy” amid scrutiny over prolific stock trading by her husband, who runs a real estate and venture capital investment firm.

But Pelosi did not throw her full support behind stock trading bans, did not specify whether she would support a ban including spouses, and said that any such bill should require disclosure from federal judges and the Supreme Court.

“It has to be government-wide,” Pelosi said Wednesday at a press conference.

“The court system — the third branch of government, the judiciary — has no reporting. The Supreme Court has no disclosure. It has no reporting of stock transactions, and it makes important decisions every day.”

Pelosi continued: “I do believe in the integrity of people in public service, I want the public to have that understanding. We have to do this to deter something that we see as a problem.”

“But it is a confidence issue, and if that’s what the members want to do, then that’s what we will do.”

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Pelosi backs ban on stock trading in Congress