Pelosi Slams Individual Stock-Trading Ban For Congress Members, Asserts ‘Free-Market Economy’

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has rejected the idea of prohibiting Congress members and their spouses from owning individual company stock shares, following an investigative media report that unraveled stock filing violations by some lawmakers.

Asked at a media briefing Wednesday on her thoughts regarding the ban, Pelosi said “We’re a free-market economy. They should be able to participate in that,” CNBC reported.

Pelosi’s comments came amid concerns about potential conflicts of interest between personal finances and the legislative duties of lawmakers. The House Speaker was also asked if she had seen the Business Insider’s Conflicted Congress series, wherein it was found after five months of investigation that 49 Congress members and 182 senior congressional staffers had violated the STOCK Act law.

Pelosi said she has not seen the series yet but acknowledged the importance of congressional members complying with the law.

The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012 prevents Congress members and staffers alike from getting involved in trading on information retrieved from their jobs, as well as conflicts of interest. It also requires public disclosure of purchases or sales of individual stocks, commodity futures, and bonds by lawmakers and their family members within 45 days of purchases or sales.

In particular, the law acts “to prohibit Members of Congress and employees of Congress from using non-public information derived from their official positions for personal benefit, and for other purposes.”

The Business Insider revealed that Congress members and staffers “routinely” violated rules of filing under the STOCK Act, but that there have been inconsistencies in collecting fines from violators.

The outlet further found that there have been no public records indicating details of whether violating officials paid fines when they failed to comply with the Act’s provisions. First-time violators are supposed to pay $200, but the fine increases if they continue missing the deadlines of declaring stock ownership. The degree of accountability among violating Congress members and staffers is unclear, Insider argued.

While Pelosi has defended the idea of lawmakers holding individual stocks, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., think otherwise.

Ocasio-Cortez said it was an “absolutely ludicrous” idea, adding that “it shouldn’t be legal for us to trade individual stock with the info we have.”

Warren, on the other hand, introduced legislation in 2018 that should ban both Congress members and White House staffers from owning individual stocks.