President Joe Biden has taken a thinly-veiled swipe at Nancy Pelosi as he got behind a ban on congressional stock trading.
Biden waded into the controversial issue despite staying out of it in the past, leaving it to lawmakers to decide their own rules.
But in a new declaration he said: ‘Nobody in the Congress should be able to make money in the stock market while they’re in the Congress.’
The surprise comment came in an interview with Faiz Shakir, a political advisor to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Pelosi played a critical role in the behind-the-scenes Democratic effort to get Biden to step back from his reelection campaign this summer. That resulted in his shocking decision to step back from the race, clearing the way for Vice President Kamala Harris, who ended up losing to Donald Trump in a landslide.
His remarks come as Pelosi, the former House speaker, is currently in a German hospital after hip replacement surgery following a fall during a congressional trip to Luxembourg.
One of the most prominent lawmakers who have benefitted from stock trades is Pelosi, whose husband Paul Pelosi is a wealthy investor.
She earned a 65% return in 2023. She traded nearly $4 million in stocks this year, with an estimated wealth of $250 million.
The president’s turnaround comments were published by A More Perfect Union, a pro-labor advocacy and journalism organization. The Associated Press reviewed a video of the interview before its release.
In the interview, Shakir told Biden he could have been an early investor in Google, Boeing, Microsoft and other firms.
‘You didn’t – correct me if I’m wrong – own any stocks,’ he said. That brought a predictable reply from Biden, who often speaks of his relatively humble lifestyle commuting home to Delaware during those years.
Biden said: ‘Look, for 36 years I was listed as the poorest man in the Senate – not a joke.
‘I don’t know how you look your constituents in the eye and know, because the job they gave you gave you an inside track to make more money. I think we should be changing the law – we have to – what we abide by at the federal level.’
It’s unclear what impact Biden’s statement could have, coming only a month before his term ends.
Although Biden didn’t mention any lawmakers by name, it is an area that has drawn bipartisan calls for reform.
A bipartisan proposal to ban trading by members of Congress and their families has dozens of sponsors, but it has not received a vote.
Pelosi infuriated some members of her own caucus when she didn’t take up their sweeping reform proposals to an existing law on stocks.
Biden often speaks about his relatively low net worth while he was in Congress, although he has since amassed about $10 million through investments, real estate holdings, and his $400,000 presidential salary.
The Democratic president spoke to Shakir about his economic legacy, which includes supporting unions, investing in clean energy projects and signing infrastructure.
But Shakir also asked about congressional stock trading, which has been a catalyst for populist anger at Washington.
For example, when the coronavirus pandemic was approaching, some lawmakers bought and sold millions of dollars worth of stock after being briefed on the virus.
Although lawmakers are required to disclose stock transactions exceeding $1,000, they’re routinely late in filing notices and sometimes don’t file them at all.
Shakir said he admired Biden for having not ‘gone in early on Google, and Boeing, and Microsoft, and Nvidia, and, you know, Amazon’ while he was a U.S. senator from Delaware, a position he held for 36 years.
Biden said he lived on his senator salary instead of playing the stock market.
Biden had previously declined to take a position on congressional stock trading.
When Jen Psaki served as White House press secretary two years ago, she said Biden would ‘let members of leadership in Congress and members of Congress determine what the rules should be.’