Bessent Targets ‘Eye-Popping’ Stock Gains Made By Members Of Congress
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that he will begin pushing for a ban on individual stock trading in Congress, arguing that the massive portfolio gains reported by lawmakers have damaged public trust in government.
Speaking on Bloomberg Surveillance, Bessent was asked whether President Donald Trump is prepared to support stock trading legislation currently being debated on Capitol Hill. While noting that no “perfect bill” had yet been introduced, Bessent made clear that a crackdown is needed.
“I am going to start pushing for a single stock trading ban because — it is the credibility of the House and the Senate that you look at some of these eye-popping returns, whether it’s Representative Pelosi, Senator Wyden, every hedge fund would be jealous of them,” Bessent said.
I am pushing for a ban on single-stock trading in Congress. The American people deserve better than politicians like @RonWyden and @SpeakerPelosi with hedge-fund level returns. Public service should be about serving the people, not getting rich. pic.twitter.com/yaXFGRfiMz
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) August 13, 2025
The Treasury chief, a former hedge fund manager, was referring to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), both of whom have amassed personal fortunes worth millions.
“And you know, the American people deserve better than this. People shouldn’t come to Washington to get rich,” Bessent continued. “They should come to serve the American people and it brings down trust in the system because, I can tell you, that if any private citizen traded this way, the SEC would be knocking on their door.”
Pelosi’s personal success in the stock market during her time in Congress has been a recurring target of criticism, with allegations of insider trading sparking public outrage. Yet efforts to formally investigate her trading activity have largely gone nowhere. Just last month, a Senate measure calling for an inquiry into her trades was voted down.
During a recent CNN interview, Pelosi responded to Trump’s accusations of insider trading by flatly denying wrongdoing.
“That’s ridiculous,” Pelosi said. “In fact, I very much support the — stop the trading of members of Congress, not that I think anybody’s doing anything wrong, if they are, they are prosecuted and they go to jail. But because of the confidence it instills in the American people, don’t worry about this. But I have no concern about the obvious investments that have been made over time, I’m not into it, my husband is, but it isn’t anything to do with anything insider.”
Current rules restricting lawmakers from trading stocks have repeatedly failed to curb violations. Bessent emphasized that both Trump and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) have publicly expressed support for banning members of Congress from trading individual stocks.
“The House and the Senate, they’re supposed to be working for the American people — their constituents,” Bessent said. “They’re supposed to be making law. And they shouldn’t be trading every day. I’m not going to name names, but there was one person in Congress who had 12 or 13 hundred trades two years ago. And you know, my hedge fund didn’t have that many trades.”
Bessent also issued a sharp warning about what he sees as a troubling pattern on Capitol Hill. “There’s something going on in terms of information leakage that is statistically … not sound,” he said, suggesting that lawmakers may be benefiting from access to nonpublic information that would trigger regulatory action if it occurred in the private sector.