In January 2023, reported on Senator Josh Hawley’s introduction of the PELOSI Act—an acronym for Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments—on the floor of the Senate.
This legislative proposal aims to prohibit U.S. Congress members and their spouses from engaging in stock trading. The impetus for this bill largely stems from the remarkable stock market success of Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul, who reportedly amassed gains exceeding $100 million since Nancy first entered Congress in 1987.
Despite the previous Congress’s decision to leave the PELOSI Act untouched, Senator Hawley made a renewed attempt to bring this bill to the forefront in April 2025 during the 119th Congress.
Hawley has been vocal in asserting that the Pelosis’ impressive financial returns are suspiciously tied to privileged information accessible solely to Nancy Pelosi as a member of Congress. To put it bluntly, the Senator hints at the possibility of insider trading, suggesting that such extraordinary profits could not be achieved without illicit access to confidential information.
As Senator Hawley articulated in an interview with Breitbart on May 8, regarding the issue of insider trading among Congress members:
“They utilize information that, frankly, only they are privy to, to make millions and millions of dollars on the stock market.”
“Last year, Nancy Pelosi and her husband outperformed nearly every hedge fund in the nation.”
Hawley continued, expressing the public’s frustration: “Voters look at this, and they just feel like vomiting. They want to expel these representatives from office.” He further pointed out that many citizens operate under the illusion that stock trading by Congress members is already illegal. The revelation of the Pelosis’ trading activities, he argues, shatters that misconception.
Moreover, he noted that this issue extends beyond the Democratic Party, implicating several Republican Congress members in similar insider trading allegations.
“Last year, I managed to push this bill through the committee after nearly two years of effort. Yet, even then, members of Congress, including those from my own party, attempted to thwart it at the last moment. The reality is that Congress has a penchant for trading stocks,” Senator Hawley remarked to Breitbart.
To address what he describes as the corrupt exploitation of Congressional offices for personal gain, he reiterated, “We simply need to ban members of Congress from owning or trading individual stocks.”
On May 6, Steve Bannon, host of War Room, commended Senator Hawley for standing out as the “lone populist” in the U.S. Senate. He remarked, “It’s a lonely battle for you up there. Let’s rally more populists. Thank you for supporting the president’s agenda and embodying the MAGA spirit.”
has reached out to Senator Hawley’s office for additional commentary regarding the PELOSI Act.
This story is still developing.
