The Stock Market Made Nancy Pelosi Rich. Now, She Wants To Ban Her Colleagues From Trading.

Democrats

House speaker’s fortune has grown $140 million since 2008, thanks in part to her husband’s trades

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul. / AP Andrew Kerr • October 5, 2022 5:00 am

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) has seen her net worth increase by $140 million since the 2008 financial crisis thanks in no small part to her husband’s fortuitous trades in companies she has worked to subsidize. Now, she’s trying to pull up the ladder behind her: In what may be her final months as a member of Congress, she’s backing a proposal that would prohibit her colleagues from buying or selling individual stocks.

Pelosi scoffed at the idea of banning lawmakers from trading individual stocks as recently as December, saying that she and her colleagues should be able to fully participate in the free market economy. After rejecting similar proposals, Pelosi is throwing her weight behind legislation that would ban stock trading among members of Congress and other senior government officials. House Democratic leaders introduced the Combating Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government Act last Tuesday but failed to bring the measure to a vote before adjourning for the midterm elections.

Pelosi has been dogged by allegations that her husband, Paul Pelosi, trades stocks on inside information gleaned from her position in Congress. In March, Paul Pelosi exercised options to buy up to $5 million worth of Tesla stock as the speaker pushed for electric vehicle subsidies, the Washington Free Beacon reported. And in June, Paul Pelosi exercised call options to buy up to $5 million in the graphics card manufacturer Nvidia just weeks before the House considered a bill to provide more than $50 billion in subsidies to domestic semiconductor manufacturers.

Pelosi said in November 2020 after being nominated for a fourth term as speaker that she would relinquish the gavel at the end of 2022. And while she announced in January that she would run for reelection in 2022, there is rampant speculation that she will depart Congress should Republicans retake the House in the upcoming

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