According to a report, the stock portfolios of more than 20 members of Congress once again outperformed the market as the ban on parliamentary stock trading stalled. new report From the Unusual Whales trade tracker.
According to the report, Democrats rose 31%, Republicans rose 26%, and the S&P 500 rose 24.9%. It also revealed a number of contradictions between legislators' stock holdings and their committee and legislative activities.
“The idea that members of Congress trade stocks while legislating is inherently problematic. Members of Congress shape policy that can directly impact markets. They act on inside information. “The emergence of potential abuse, whether or not, undermines public trust,” Unusual Whales wrote in the fifth edition of its report.
Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who faces significant backlash for opposing a bipartisan stock trading ban, has consistently reported above-average stock price growth, according to the report. It was found that the stocks owned by her husband rose nearly 71% in 2024. Pelosi has previously defended stock trading in Congress, saying lawmakers should be able to participate in a “free market economy.”
Nine other members of Congress outperformed Pelosi last year, with Rep. David Rouzer (RN.C.) posting the largest portfolio increase of 149%, largely due to her This is due to the Nvidia stock he purchased a few years ago. Unusual Whales said Mr. Rauser “had been making these purchases many years ago,” but was “not an active trader.”
Other members have been more active, with some making what Unusual Whales calls “a number of unusual transactions.”
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.)'s portfolio posted the second-biggest gain after Ms. Rouser. purchased stocks He joined satellite carrier Viasat in October as a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction. According to the report, Viasat has received more than $2.7 billion in government contracts since fiscal year 2020, primarily from the Department of Defense. federal contract data.
“This is an important step in the right direction,” said Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Buy RTX stockformerly known as Raytheon, was formed in April, the report found. RTX is one of the government's largest contractors, receiving billions of dollars from the federal government each year.
Spokespeople for Pelosi, Rauser, Wasserman Schultz and Newhouse did not respond to requests for comment.
For more than a decade, members of parliament have been prohibited from trading on information learned in their official capacities and are required to submit frequent financial disclosures under the 2012 Shares Act. But lawmakers can still trade on the public stock market, and the lack of reporting delays and enforcement actions has raised questions about these guardrails.
No lawmakers have been charged with violating the law, despite reports that they dumped stocks early in the pandemic. And since 2020, none of the 10 bills proposed to tighten guardrails or outright ban stock trading in Congress have reached a vote in the Republican- or Democratic-controlled House. .
President Biden last month called for a ban on stock trading in Congress, taking a stance on the issue for the first time in his political career.
“I don't know how voters look you in the eye and know that the job they gave you,” Biden said in an interview with the progressive nonprofit news station More Perfect Union. Because it gave me an internal trajectory to make more money.”
