LOFTUS: Republicans Care More About Inside Jokes Than Insider Trading

Insider trolling is fun, but it can only go so far in tackling insider trading.

On Monday, Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley reintroduced legislation to ban members of Congress and their spouses from trading or holding individual stocks. The bill, Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments, recycled a clever and apt acronym, PELOSI, which drew a loud round of applause from X users, even though it is the second time the bill was introduced. (RELATED: Nancy Pelosi‘s Stock Portfolio Explodes In Value, Beats Market By Nearly 200%)

The bill to ban congressional stock trading is entitled the PELOSI Act, or “Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments.”

I usually don’t like cute names for pieces of legislation, but this one hit the nail on the head. Bravo.

Pass it!! pic.twitter.com/pN8nicKJRx

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) April 29, 2025

LOL THEY NAMED IT PELOSI pic.twitter.com/jMmZzCS4Ir

— Harrison Krank (@HarrisonKrank) April 28, 2025

Brilliant @HawleyMO The PELOSI Act. She will go down in history as a malevolent crook second only to her former pal Joe Biden. https://t.co/t7ckvc2M0V

— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) April 29, 2025

The PELOSI Act
(Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments)
😂😂😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/x29k72XUgc

— Jayroo (@jayroo69) April 29, 2025

The PELOSI Act.

This is absolutely,
100 percent,
without a doubt,
beyond any questioning,
with metaphysical certitude,
as God is my witness,
precisely what I voted for. pic.twitter.com/76LeS0vC4J

— L A R R Y (@LarryOConnor) April 28, 2025

LMFAO it’s actually called the PELOSI act ☠️☠️☠️ https://t.co/wshS1eK97P pic.twitter.com/smpXKfpCmT

— 👣ℙ𝕖𝕕𝕣𝕠’𝕤 𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕙𝕖🇺🇲 (@OfAthenry) April 28, 2025

They named it the Pelosi Act 🤣 pic.twitter.com/LXnuH96EL6

— Being Libertarian (@beinlibertarian) April 28, 2025

🇺🇸 MEET THE PELOSI ACT — YES, THAT’S REALLY THE NAME

The Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act just hit the Senate floor.

It bans Members of Congress (and their spouses) from trading individual stocks — unless they use a qualified blind… https://t.co/hT0ZwHffrm pic.twitter.com/AdMZ0vr992

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 29, 2025

But let’s save the cheers and underserved praise for a moment, because a funny acronym is not a law. A ban on congressional stock trading has been tried before, it has failed before, and will probably fail again. (Subscribe to MR. RIGHT, a weekly newsletter about modern masculinity)

In July 2022, Democratic Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff introduced the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act. It failed. Stuck in committee.

A year later, Hawley and Democratic New York Sen. Kristen Gillibrand introduced the bipartisan Ban Stock Trading for Government Officials Act. Failure once again, and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

And … a year later, in July 2024, Hawley, Ossoff, Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan and Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley announced an agreement to advance the Ending Trading and Holding in Congressional Stocks Act.

That time was a little better, however. The Senate actually put the bill on its legislative calendar. But no vote, of course.

Why? Hawley had the answer.

“Let just call a spade a spade. There are a lot of members who don’t want to ban stock trading,” he told reporters at the time, noting that his Republican colleagues “don’t want to vote against it, what they don’t want to do is to have to vote at all.”

He’s exactly right, and right to be cynical. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will talk a big game about cleaning up Congress and upholding its basic duty of serving the American people. They will introduce bill after bill and express support for those bills, yet they will never vote, let alone pass them. Earn some praise online, garner a few positive headlines, but keep the bills in committee forever. Rinse and repeat.

The PELOSI Act will probably be no different, even though the issue is an absolute slam-dunk with Americans, both Republican and Democrat. Trump would sign it, but the jury is out for all eternity.

Ever tried to ban congressional stock trading. Ever failed. No matter, try again, fail again, fail with a better acronym.

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