Last week, Nancy Pelosi made headlines when she said that legislation to ban members of Congress from trading stock could be coming in September.
"We believe we have a product that we can bring to the floor this month," Pelosi told reporters at her weekly press conference, though she wouldn't say much about it. I know what you mean. The bill will come out when it does.
Members of Congress who've pushed for a vote for months, an effort that began with a flurry of proposals in the wake of Insider's own "Conflicted Congress" investigation last year, reacted with skepticism to the Speaker's comments.
In interviews with Insider at the Capitol, several House Democrats expressed cautious optimism about seeing legislative text this month.
"I think I'm going to win the election," said Craig. It will be seen how far it goes in the end.
Leading proponents of ready-to-go legislation were left in the dark about Democratic leadership's plans and, in some cases, skeptical that leadership is even sincere about implementing a ban into law. They are concerned about the potential for error-riddled, overly- broad legislation that makes a mockery of the effort, or the use of an increasingly-full legislative agenda as an excuse to not act.
"I'm concerned about the lack of detail as to what is being planned," said Democratic Rep. The clock is winding down quickly.
All eyes are on the House of Representatives to see what may emerge ahead of the November elections after Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon punted the introduction of legislation in the Senate until after the mid-terms.
According to two Democratic sources, no actual legislative text was presented when the Committee on House Administration briefed the staff of the members most involved with crafting the stock trading ban.
Krishnamoorthi told Insider in a statement that the proposal was "encouraging" and that it offered something of a warning. There is a lot of work to be done to get this through both chambers. He told them to remain vigilant.
Peter Whippy told Insider that good-government groups were briefed on the proposal on Friday.
Walter Shaub, a senior ethics fellow at the Project on Government Oversight, was present on the call. Shaub has argued that the Democratic leadership's plans are a sham.
Several bills to ban stock trading were introduced earlier this year. At an April hearing before the Committee on House Administration, members with competing visions came together on some common principles, the most important of which was the inclusion of spouses and dependent children.
"I think that coalescing is a very real internal dynamic," the New York Democrat said last week.
The House has agreed to a set of principles, which include including spouses and dependents in the ban, ensuring blind trusts are truly blind, and strengthened enforcement measures under the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act.
The April hearing showed a coolness to an absolute ban from Republicans on the committee, prompting a democrat to seek a meeting with the chair.
Some of the members were talking about the issue on different planets. Is my house going to have to be sold?
Her bipartisan stock trade ban bill has over 65 cosponsors, the most of any proposed legislation. Even as she spoke of a forthcoming product, Pelosi dismissed that fact.
Pelosi asked, "What do they say, they have 60?" A third of what we need to pass a bill is not even a quarter of what we need.
A large majority of both Democratic and Republican voters support prohibiting members of Congress from trading stock. Proponents of a ban say the lack of leadership has made them doubt if something will get done.
The chair of the Congressional Progressives Caucus said they had not heard anything. I don't know if I'm confident.
In the contemporary House, the lack of communication with key stakeholders isn't unusual. She said that they are trying to make sure that they are a part of the decision making.
The committee process is often cited as a reason for the months-long delay in bringing stock ban legislation to the floor, even as other bills have quickly sailed past the regular committee process and come directly to the floor for a vote.
The bills have to go through a committee. Even when they don't.
Pete Aguilar is a member of both the House Democratic leadership and the Committee on House Administration.
There isn't a lot of runway on the calendar and Lofgren has a few other things she's working on.
Lofgren's bill to reform the Electoral Count Act is expected to be voted on this week.
At a recent lunch with the California delegation, Porter brought up the need to pass stock ban legislation, and the Speaker was receptive. There will be a chance for members to review the proposal this week.
Porter said he would expect to get at least some principles.
There are only six legislative days left before the House adjourns for the month of October. There isn't much time for members to read and vote on legislation.
The Administration Committee and leadership on the issue of banning stock trading have left Republicans out, even though many of them have co-sponsored the bills.
She said she hopes to see a bill pass before the elections.
She said that she was interested in more than just a messaging bill. The Senate should be able to pass whatever we pass.
If leadership puts forward new legislation this month, then a vote after the midterms would make more sense because of the potential for loopholes or poison pills.
She said that the way that mistakes are made is by rushing things. We will vote on the new piece of legislation in November or December.
The Senate's decision to delay the introduction of a bill until after the elections could allow Democrats to use the issue in a political way.
"I don't want to play games, that's why I'm not unreasonable on this." Let's not lie.
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