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Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has reintroduced the PELOSI Act, which was designed to target corruption within Congress related to insider trading, and President Donald Trump has signaled that he would sign this bill into law if it made it to his desk.
The bill, whose clever acronym stands for “Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments,” is named after the most prolific stock trader in Congress, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who somehow is able to outperform even the best stock traders and has amassed massive wealth while in Congress — prompting accusations of insider trading and causing many traders to follow her every move. Pelosi’s husband has also faced scrutiny for making millions in suspected insider trading.
Hawley issued a press release about the bill, which would ban members of Congress and their spouses from owning individual stocks.
“Members of Congress should be fighting for the people they were elected to serve — not day trading at the expense of their constituents,” the press release read.
“Americans have seen politician after politician turn a profit using information not available to the general public,” the document continued. “It’s time we ban all members of Congress from trading and holding stocks and restore Americans’ trust in our nation’s legislative body.”
Under the PELOSI Act, all elected officials and their spouses would be blocked from owning any individual stocks while serving in Congress. However, they would still be allowed to invest in broader financial instruments like mutual funds, ETFs, and Treasury Bonds. If enacted, the bill would give lawmakers a six-month grace period — but anyone who refused to divest would be slapped with financial penalties and forced to surrender profits to the U.S. Treasury.
The bill also requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit every Congress member to confirm compliance with the law within two years of it being enacted, and the GAO would have to submit a report to the congressional ethics committees about compliance.
Trump was asked by a reporter whether he would support a bill banning congressional stock trading, to which he responded that he would “absolutely” sign the bill.
“Well, I watched Nancy Pelosi get rich through insider information, and I would be okay with it. If they send that to me, I would do it,” Trump said.
It is time! Pass my PELOSI Act now – no stock trading by members of Congress https://t.co/w1enBmv0BG
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) April 25, 2025
A New York Times investigation from 2022 identified at least 97 lawmakers who had reported stock trades that may have intersected with their committee work, which prompted concerns about elected officials using privileged information to obtain wealth.
Lawmakers have introduced legislation similar to the PELOSI Act in past sessions of Congress, and Hawley has introduced this bill in the past, but they were all unsurprisingly unsuccessful, despite bipartisan desire for reform and polls consistently showing that more than 80% of Americans support banning lawmakers from trading stocks.
