GOP senators sparred with fellow Republican Josh Hawley on Wednesday over a Hawley-authored bill that would ban trading and ownership of stocks and certain other assets by lawmakers, the president and vice president and their spouses and dependent children.
The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the bill on a slim 8-7 vote after earlier adopting a Hawley substitute amendment that extended the prohibitions beyond just members of Congress, reaching into the Oval Office.
The compromise amendment would give officials elected before the date of enactment until after their current term to divest their assets. So President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance would need to sell their holdings in 2029 — exempting Trump from the requirements, since this is his last term — current House members would have until 2027, and so forth.
The original bill only applied to lawmakers and was co-sponsored by Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio. The bill was titled the “PELOSI Act,” a reference to past accusations by Republicans that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., benefited from inside information in stock trading.
The substitute amendment — approved 8-7 — changed the title, dropped Moreno and added Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the Homeland Security panel’s ranking member, as co-sponsor.
“Let’s be honest, this is a publicity show,” Moreno said.
Pelosi issued a statement in support of the bill. “While I appreciate the creativity of my Republican colleagues in drafting legislative acronyms, I welcome any serious effort to raise ethical standards in public service,” she said.
The measure would bar lawmakers, the president and vice president from buying and selling stocks and other “covered investments” such as commodities, futures, cryptocurrencies and corporate bonds, upon enactment. Newly elected officials after enactment would have 90 days to sell existing assets.
Officials would still be allowed to invest in mutual funds, exchange traded funds and U.S. Treasury bonds.
Following committee approval, Trump said he “conceptually” supports the measure, and he called for Pelosi to be investigated for alleged insider trading.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., offered an amendment to require a report on stock trades by Pelosi and her husband Paul over the past 25 years. It was defeated, 7-8, with Hawley joining Democrats to reject it.
Trump went after Hawley over the vote on Scott’s amendment, posting on Truth Social that Democrats were using Hawley as a “pawn” to target him politically.
“I wonder why Hawley would pass a Bill that Nancy Pelosi is in absolute love with — He is playing right into the dirty hands of the Democrats,” Trump wrote. “I don’t think real Republicans want to see their President, who has had unprecedented success, TARGETED, because of the ‘whims’ of a second-tier Senator named Josh Hawley!”
‘Really crummy bill’
Hawley, R-Mo., said the public supports banning lawmakers “from profiting on information that frankly only members of Congress have in the buying and selling of stock.”
He said the briefings lawmakers receive are not covered by insider trading laws, “but nobody believes that the information we get isn’t valuable. It is quite valuable.”
The other seven Republicans on the committee opposed the bill.
Senate Homeland Security Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., said he opposed the legislation in general. But he took particular aim at a change to the substitute that Hawley did not introduce until the markup. The original substitute would have required divestment of assets starting in 2027. The modification, which the panel approved 8-6, delayed divestment until each official’s next term.
As a result of the modification, Trump will not have to divest his assets, since he cannot seek a third term.
“I will oppose the substitute change because I think it should apply to everybody or nobody,” Paul said. “You will be voting to protect Donald Trump if you vote for this substitute. If this is a great bill … it should apply to Donald Trump.”
Paul said the fact that the exception was made for the president “means that it’s a really crummy bill.”
“I think this is a solution looking for publicity,” Paul said.
Paul also said if the bill had merit, it should apply to the courts and staff as well — not just to lawmakers and the president.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said the bill would have the unintended consequence of making it “very unattractive for people to step up to the plate and run for office.”
“It’s legislative demagoguery,” he said. “We do have insider trading laws. We have financial disclosure. I don’t see the necessity of this.”
Scott, who previously voted for a similar version of Hawley’s bill, opposed this one.
“This idea that we are going to attack people because they make money is wrong,” Scott said. “I think it’s disgusting, what’s going on here.”
‘We have a problem’
Panel Democrats backed the measure.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said the bill is not perfect but “I am willing to make the good work instead of waiting for the perfect.”
“People don’t believe that we are here for the right reasons,” she said. “We have a problem.”
Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said “surely” there are enough people willing to run for Congress even if they can’t own stock when in office. “If mutual funds are not good enough for you, then maybe this is not the right job for you,” he said.
Hawley said the bill would ban the use of blind trusts to hold stocks because “rules on qualified blind trusts are not airtight.” He said the rules are “very loose and it’s very difficult to police.”
“Blind trusts, I think, are often workarounds because they can be structured in multiple different ways,” he said.
Those remarks led to a verbal confrontation between Hawley and Senate Ethics Committee Chairman James Lankford, R-Okla., when Hawley told Lankford that the Ethics Committee does not police the trusts.
“Well, thank you very much,” Lankford replied. “The Ethics Committee does police that. So thanks for telling me what I don’t do.”
Lankford added: “This suddenly sounds likes it’s personal. You’re telling me what I don’t do.”
Hawley said when he was elected, he sold his financial assets.
“I practice what I preach,” he said. “I don’t have individual stocks. I don’t trade in stocks. I’m not a millionaire, unlike others on this committee.”
Scott is considered the wealthiest member of Congress, with a net worth north of $500 million. Moreno and Johnson are worth tens of millions of dollars each, according to disclosures.
John T. Bennett contributed to this report.
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