House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now on board with a potential ban on members of Congress trading stocks, a new report suggested on Wednesday.
The powerful Democrat has shot down the idea multiple times in the past, despite criticism over her husband raking in millions on the stock exchange.
But the California legislator is now working with other Democratic leaders on how to get it done, according to Punchbowl News, after caving to pressure from both sides of the aisle and both chambers of Congress.
It's reportedly now up to House Administration Committee Chair Rep. Zoe Lofgren to come up with pathways on how to enact the stock trading ban.
House Democratic leadership is potentially looking at amending the STOCK Act, which makes it illegal for lawmakers to use non-public information for private profit and requires them to publicly disclose stock and bond transactions within 45 days.
It will likely be updated to outright stop lawmakers from trading individual stocks.
Changes to the Ethics in Government Act are also on the table, Wednesday's report suggests. The post-Watergate scandal law called for the mandatory public disclosure of financial records and employment history for public officials and their immediate families.
A prospective package would also reportedly include limitations on federal judges' financial activity and harsher penalties for lawmakers who are found in violation of the STOCK Act by not providing timely disclosures.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (pictured with her husband Paul Pelosi outside of 10 Downing Street in the UK in September 2021) has long been opposed to banning stock trades for members of Congress, despite ethics questions over her businessman husband spending millions on stocks and call-in options
As many as 49 legislators and 182 Congressional staffers had violated the STOCK Act by reporting their trades late from January through September 2021, according to a Business Insider report from last year.
While it now appears Pelosi is on board, Wednesday's report still indicates there's a myriad of questions that need to be answered about the details of what the House Speaker would support.
Among the most prominent is whether the ban will extend to lawmakers' family members, as some members of Congress have already called for.
But that could face pushback from Pelosi -- while she herself does not trade stocks, her regular financial disclosures show her husband, Paul Pelosi, regularly making millions off of the financial markets.
Last month it was revealed that the businessman and investor dropped $3.5 million on call options, essentially betting that the stock will go up in value by a certain date and giving an investor the opportunity to buy it at the initial agreed-upon price until then.
Two days after the House Speaker told reporters on December 15 that 'We're a free market economy. '[Lawmakers] should
