House Speaker Nancy Pelosi brushed off questions on Wednesday about why Members of Congress should be allowed to trade stock when a recent report found that dozens allegedly broke insider trading laws.
“Madam Speaker, Insider just completed a five‑month investigation finding that 49 Members of Congress and 182 senior Congressional staffers have violated the STOCK Act, the insider trading law,” a reporter said. “I’m wondering if you have any reaction to that.”
“And secondly, should Members of Congress and their spouses be banned from trading individual stocks while serving in Congress?” the reporter asked.
“No, I don’t – no, to the second one. Any – we have a responsibility to report in the stock – on the stock,” Pelosi responded. “But I don’t – I’m not familiar with that five month review, but if the people aren’t reporting, they should be.”
“Why shouldn’t they be banned?” the reporter asked.
“Because this is a free market and people – we are a free market economy,” Pelosi responded. “They should be able to participate in that.”
Pelosi’s husband, investor Paul Pelosi, reportedly trades large volumes of stocks on a regular basis, according to Business Insider.
Pelosi has a net worth of nearly $50 million, according to a separate report from Business Insider:
Pelosi, the speaker of the House, reported personal wealth spread out among property holdings, mutual funds, and stocks owned by her husband. The only assets that Pelosi reported owning or joint-owning were her home in Napa, California, and a Wells Fargo bank account containing less than $15,000.
Pelosi’s husband had holdings in corporations such as Slack , Tesla, Disney, Visa, Salesforce, PayPal, Alphabet, Facebook, and Netflix — companies that together spend tens of millions of dollars each year lobbying the federal government.
Pelosi reported at least $20 million in liabilities that mostly involved mortgages on properties in California and Washington, DC.
WATCH:
Listen to how quickly Pelosi said “No” to the question of wether Members of Congress and their spouses should be banned from owning stock.
Pelosi’s salary is $223,500
Her net worth is about $100 million.
You do the math. pic.twitter.com/ZpP6vNuQYf
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) December 15, 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
REPORTER: Madam Speaker, Insider just completed a five‑month investigation finding that 49 Members of Congress and 182 senior Congressional staffers have violated the STOCK Act, the insider trading law. I’m wondering if you have any reaction to that. And secondly, should Members of Congress and their spouses be banned from trading individual stocks while serving in Congress?
NANCY PELOSI, HOUSE SPEAKER: No, I don’t – no, to the second one. Any – we have a responsibility to report in the stock – on the stock. But I don’t – I’m not familiar with that five month review, but if the people aren’t reporting, they should be.
REPORTER: Why shouldn’t they be banned?
PELOSI: Because this is a free market and people – we are a free market economy. They should be able to participate in that.
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Source: Dailywire
