House unlikely to vote on congressional stock trade ban before midterms
House members are scheduled to go back to their districts after Friday until mid-November
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A bill that would ban members of Congress and others from trading stocks may have made progress with its introduction in the House on Tuesday, but it does not appear that lawmakers will take any further action on it before November’s midterm elections.
The House will only be in session and conducting votes on Thursday and Friday before members return home for work in their districts – as well as campaigning – and members are not scheduled to return until November 14, the week after Election Day. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told Punchbowl News that a vote on the stock bill is not likely to take place this week.
"Well, it was just introduced," Hoyer said. "I gotta look at it and see what it is."
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who drafted the bill, told the outlet a failure to vote on the bill by Friday does not mean it has no future.
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WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 20: Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) speaks at a news conference earlier in the day before a House Rules Committee hearing to discuss The Presidential Election Reform Act at the U.S. Capitol September 20, 2022 in Washington, DC. The ((Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) / Getty Images)
"I don’t think so because the Senate is not going to get theirs done this week either," she said.
The bill, titled the Combatting Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government Act, would ban congressional lawmakers and their spouses and dependent children, federal judges, Supreme Court justices, the president, vice president, members of the Federal Reserve System’s Board of Governors and others from trading or owning investments in securities, commodities, futures, cryptocurrency or other digital assets.
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Those barred from trading stocks would be required to divest their holdings or put them into a qualified blind trust.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., initially opposed the idea of a ban before directing Lofgren in February to draft the legislation. The speaker's husband, Paul Pelosi, is a venture capitalist and one of the most active trading participants among congressional spouses.
Mr. Pelosi's stock trades have drawn attention for years. During summer 2021, he cashed in on big tech shortly before the House Judiciary Committee voted to curtail the "unregulated power" of companies like Google and Amazon, Fortune reported. Months earlier, he picked up millions of dollars worth of Microsoft stock just days before the company announced a lucrative government contract.
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 24: Nancy Pelosi and Paul Pelosi attend the 23rd Annual Mark Twain Prize For American Humor at The Kennedy Center on April 24, 2022 in Washington, DC. ((Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images) / Getty Images)
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Speaker Pelosi told Fox News Digital in July that Pelosi Paul has never made stock purchases based on information she gave him
The Democratic leader said a bill would likely come to the floor this month, but a senior aide told Punchbowl News that "Pelosi never really wanted a vote on this anyway."
Fox Business' Landon Mion and Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report.