House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the epitome of an oligarch, has managed to prevent a bill from coming to the floor of the House for nearly two years.
The bill would ban members from trading individual stocks. But Pelosi is notorious for scandalous insider trading, the likes of which put to shame the pursuit and incarceration of Martha Stewart in 2003. The San Francisco Democrat’s continued delays confirm what many suspect about her.
It is poetic how a bill called the TRUST in Congress Act is delayed since January, 2021, and appears poised for indefinite exile.
In the newly purple Commonwealth of Virginia, Rep. Abigail Spanberger has been outspoken about Speaker Pelosi’s snubbing of the bill. She spoke about the matter Wednesday on Fox News’s “Special Report” with Bret Baier.
Oligarchs don’t live by the rules they make for others. Congress has long exempted itself from its own laws. Notably, they passed the Social Security Act but gave themselves a better plan. They ban school choice, except for themselves. They are exempt from IRS audits. And more.
Here we observe another cutout for members of Congress: insider trading for me, but not for thee.
Members of Congress routinely trade shares in companies their committees oversee. They make trades knowing the decisions they are about to pass down. It has been a lucrative practice, as the portfolios of legislators routinely outperform the broader stock market. Paul and Nancy Pelosi are the most prolific at this practice. For instance, they outperformed the S&P 500 index in 2021.
Baier asked Spanberger, “One of the things that you were trying to do was pass this TRUST In Congress Act. That failed. Speaker Pelosi talked about that, said there was an effort to make a better bill. Are you mad about that?”
“The American people are mad about it,” she replied. “Chip Roy – Republican from Texas – and I have worked on this legislation since the early days of Covid. We put forth a bill, straightforward: members of Congress should not be selling individual stocks. Put it in a blind trust. Trade in mutual funds.”
“The American people should know that a member of Congress is never leaving a classified briefing and calling their stock broker,” she said, to which just about every American would agree, knowing full well that corrupt politicians are getting rich doing just that.
In early 2021, the bill was greeted with optimism.
The newly introduced bipartisan Trust in Congress Act is an intelligent answer to Americans’ highly justified suspicions of our elected officials. And Pelosi’s absurd insistance on relying on trust alone is off the Table. Today is a good day for the USA.
— Jonas Perkins (@JonasPerkins8) February 17, 2022
As time went by, frustration mounted.
And they wonder why nobody trust politicians 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️ @BernieSanders
This is a clear conflict of interest.
Urge Speaker Pelosi to hold a hearing on the TRUST in Congress Act: https://t.co/gFjBwbFTZ5 pic.twitter.com/SyKOslChbm
— DJ ARMANDO (@DJLA) March 16, 2021
🚨CA constituents
Call, email, send letters to Pelosi who is holding up the bill on stock trading reform. It needs to happen now.
HR 336, also known as TRUST (Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust) in Congress Act.
— Sandy 🥁🙋♀️😎 (@sj_pete) September 13, 2022
The Virginia congresswoman noted that the bill truly has broad bipartisan support and 70 co-sponsors from across the spectrum. And yet, “The Speaker has employed stall tactic after stall tactic in order to keep delaying what’s potentially a vote on any bill that would ban members of Congress from buying and selling stocks.”
Spanberger has a conscience. What is she doing in the Democratic Party? Somebody call Tulsi Gabbard!
“It’s about perception, it’s about ethics reform and we’re not done yet. I am a broken record on this and I will continue working and agitating for it until we get it done,” insisted the two-term congresswoman.
Baier was sure to note that her Republican rival, Yesli Vega, has been accusing Spanberger and her party.
“Your party is in control to be able to get this through of the House and the Senate,” said the Fox News host, paraphrasing Vega’s contention.
“And here the speaker doesn’t support it, which is why I will not and have not supported the speaker,” retorted Spanberger.
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