For years, members of Congress have been abusing their positions to make a fortune in the stock market, and everyone knows it.
Speaker Johnson (R-LA), finally, appears to be ready to address the issue, supporting legislation that would block members of congress from being able to trade individuals stocks.
We have all seen the reports about the money Paul Pelosi, the husband of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), has made over the last decade.
He has had the uncanny ability to place calls right before major announcements that lead to stock prices soaring, as well as dumping stocks at the perfect time.
For instance, in July 2022, there was a report that Pelosi bought millions in Nvidia stock right before Congress wrote some massive checks to subsidize semiconductor production.
It was estimated at the time that he made somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000 on that one trade alone.
For the average investor, a solid S&P fund is a sound investment that eliminates the stress of trying to guess which stocks are likely to take off.
Somehow, numerous members of Congress were outperforming the S&P 500 with returns that were unrealistic. Either that, or they got extremely lucky.
When the Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act was introduced, it stated, “In 2022, members of Congress outperformed the S&P 500 by 17.5%, reinforcing the belief that members have unique access that allows them to benefit from insider information and undermining trust in American democracy and its institutions."
Per a February 2025 report, the top traders in 2024 were Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) (526 trades, $91.5 million in volume), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (17 trades, $37.5 million in volume), Rep. Scott Franklin (R-FL) (202 trades, $5.9 million in volume), Senators Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) (202 trades, $5.5 million in volume), and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) (71 trades, $4.4 million in volume).
Congress has been back and forth on this legislation, but it now appears that Speaker Johnson may soon put it on the floor. When asked about it, he stated, “You want me to tell you my honest opinion on it? I’m in favor of that, because I don’t think we should have any appearance of impropriety here.
“On balance, my view is we probably should [ban stock trading] because I think it’s been abused in the past. And I think, sadly, a few bad actors, discolor it for everyone.”
If you look over net worth records, there are far too many members of Congress who enter office in debt, and within a few years, they are worth millions. As you can see from someone like Rep. Franklin, you don’t need a lot of money to get started, just keep hitting home runs on those small trades and build your wealth.
Many members of Congress play the long game, making smaller trades that stay under the radar, but they are all using inside information, in my opinion. You look at their trades, and they are usually related to their committees or legislation being passed in the House, and there is simply no way I believe they are not using that information. When members of Congress consistently have a better hit ratio than people like Warren Buffett, something does not smell right.
