The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has just passed the PELOSI Act to ban stock trading among those in Congress, as well as the President and Vice President. It passed 8-7, with all Republicans voting AGAINST the bill except Hawley, who was joined by all Democrats on the committee.
Yes, it’s complicated.
According to taxpayer funded Politico, the Democrats joined the bill when Hawley agreed to get rid of the PELOSI Act name and expand those prohibited from stock trading to the President and Vice President. Except it will only apply to future administrations, meaning it doesn’t apply to President Trump and VP Vance.
Some Republicans didn’t like the changes, like the original co-sponsor of the bill, Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, who voted against it on those grounds. Others simply feel that the bill is flawed.
Here’s more:
A Senate committee voted to advance a bill that would ban stock trading by lawmakers, presidents and vice presidents — over objections from most Republicans and with a carve-out for President Donald Trump.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the original bill barring members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks. It was named, to Democrats’ dismay, for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has come under scrutiny for her husband’s extensive trading without evidence that any of it was done using insider information from Capitol Hill.
In conjunction with Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Hawley offered an alternative to the panel that would ditch the contentious name and expand the prohibitions to the president and vice president — but only for future administrations.
“We have an opportunity here today to do something that the public has wanted us to do for decades, and that is to ban members of Congress from profiting on information that, frankly, only members of Congress have,” Hawley said.
The committee voted 8-7 with all Republicans on the panel save Hawley voting against proceeding with the bill. The GOP detractors argued it would unfairly punish the wealthy and disincentivize some from serving in Congress. Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, one of the Republican nays, is chair of the Senate Ethics Committee and noted he would be responsible for enforcing the bill should it become law.
Hellbound and Down 