Nancy Pelosi’s office responds to husband’s controversial computer chip stock purchase ahead of Congress vote

Nancy Pelosi's office responded to her husband's controversial computer chip stock trades ahead of Congress' vote on the semiconductor industry. 

FOX Business reached out to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office for comment about her husband’s recent stock trades, particularly inquiring about Paul Pelosi's million-dollar purchase of stock in a semiconductor company as Congress is slated to vote on a $52 billion subsidy to the industry as part of a bill to increase U.S. manufacturing of computer chips to make the country less reliant and more competitive with China. 

"The Speaker does not own any stocks.  As you can see from the required disclosures, with which the Speaker fully cooperates, these transactions are marked ‘SP’ for Spouse. The Speaker has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions," Nancy Pelosi’s spokesman, Drew Hammill, said in a statement to FOX Business. 

Regarding proposals to ban trading by members of Congress, Hammill said, "there are at least three proposals introduced in the House in this regard and the Speaker has asked the Committee on House Administration to review these proposals," adding that FOX Business "should check with the committee on their latest." 

NANCY PELOSI'S HUSBAND BUYS OVER $1 MILLION OF COMPUTER CHIP STOCK WEEKS BEFORE VOTE ON INDUSTRY'S SUBSIDIES 

 "The Speaker believes that sunlight is the best disinfectant. The Speaker has asked Committee on House Administration Chair Zoe Lofgren to examine the issue of Members’ unacceptable noncompliance with the reporting requirements in the STOCK Act, including the possibility of stiffening penalties," Hammill said. 

 "To be clear, insider trading is already a serious federal criminal and civil violation and the Speaker strongly supports robust enforcement of the relevant statutes by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission," he added. "The Speaker led the House in passing the bipartisan Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act, which would subject federal judges to similar disclosure requirements as those in the STOCK Act. President Biden signed this bill into law in May. "

This comes after Paul Pelosi made a purchase of between $1 million and $5 million shares of Nvidia, which is a semiconductor company, according to a disclosure filing made by Pelosi's office. He exercised 200 call options, or 20,000 shares, the disclosure states.

Reuters reported that the Senate could vote on a bill that contains billions of dollars in subsidies within the semiconductor industry as early as Tuesday. 

The bill could send as much as $52 billion in chip subsidies as well as tax credits in order to increase competitiveness with China.

Congress is aiming to pass the bill and send it to President Joe Biden's desk before leaving for their August recess.

Speaking to "Fox & Friends First" Monday, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., slammed Paul Pelosi following his multimillion-dollar purchase of computer chip stocks prior to a congressional subsidy vote. 

Comer called Nancy Pelosi "the ultimate insider," noting how her husband has made other controversial stock purchases before, namely ahead of the Big Tech hearings on Capitol Hill. 

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

"Nancy Pelosi is the ultimate insider. Not only is her husband buying stock options on a much higher level than the average member of Congress," Comer said. "The average member of Congress may buys $5,000 or $6,000 of stock. He's buying $500,000 worth of stock. He's buying stock options which expire. To be able to trade stock options profitably, you have to know exactly which direction that stock's going to move, and you can make a huge profit. This is wrong. This is another example of the media turning a blind eye to Nancy Pelosi's bad behavior and unethical behavior."

FOX Business' Adams Sabes contributed to this report.