Democratic House leaders say they'll let bills to ban stock trading move forward, but some continue to defend the practice

• Democratic House leaders said several bills to bar lawmakers from trading stocks would move forward.
• But House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said his "immediate reaction" was that a ban wasn't necessary.

Democratic House leadership signaled Wednesday that a series of recently introduced bills to bar lawmakers from stock trading would be allowed to move forward, though House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer expressed hesitation toward the idea.

Asked by Insider about a series of proposals that recently emerged to ban the practice, Hoyer told reporters Congress "certainly ought to look at this issue" and he was "pleased that the appropriate committees will look at this and look at the legislation."

Hoyer also told reporters he did not personally own stocks.

"Let me make it very clear. I don't trade stocks. I don't have any stocks to trade," he said, adding that lawmakers shouldn't have an advantage over the public, especially in regard to their access to privileged information that could affect markets.

But according to Insider's exclusive searchable database of lawmakers' personal finances — as well as disclosures that Hoyer filed with the House clerk — Hoyer owns up to $1,000 in Telkonet, a provider of energy-management technology.

Hanging over the Democratic leader's comments is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's opposition to a stock-trading ban, which she made clear when asked about Insider's "Conflicted Congress" investigation at a press conference last month.

Last week, Sens. Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Josh Hawley of Missouri introduced competing bills to ban stock trading. Ossoff's bill, which he's cosponsoring with Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, is something of a companion to the TRUST in Congress Act put forward by Reps. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Chip Roy of Texas, which would require lawmakers to place individual stock holdings into a blind trust.

And Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota plans to introduce a bill that goes beyond blind trusts and bans stock ownership entirely.

"I want to start the conversation about why my leadership wants to block this legislation," Craig told Insider last week.

On Wednesday, Hoyer expressed hesitancy when it came to an outright ban.

"There are members who do that," Hoyer said, referring to stock trading. "As long as they do so legally, without having some special advantage, my immediate reaction is that it should not be precluded."

Also on Wednesday, Insider asked Reps. Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Pete Aguilar of California about the proposals at their weekly press conference. Both Democrats once again declined to take a position.

"As the chair of the House Democratic Caucus, I don't get out ahead of members when there are ongoing discussions about how to deal with issues of importance to them," Jeffries said. "We've got multiple bills that have been introduced by a variety of different members that are going to be before the committees of jurisdiction."

Jeffries added that he still hadn't personally had conversations about the legislation and said he personally did not own individual stocks.

"My own view speaks for itself," he said.

Aguilar also told reporters he didn't own individual stocks and the bills would be allowed to move forward.

"We're going to allow this process to move forward. These members are going to be able to make their case to committees of jurisdiction," he said.

Aguilar pointed to a recent directive from Pelosi to the Committee on House Administration asking that they review which members of Congress had violated the STOCK Act and consider harsher penalties for violators. "We're not going to hesitate to do that" if needed, Aguilar said.

He and Jeffries then once again criticized House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican who told Punchbowl News he was considering curtailing stock trading by Congress members.

"What we're not going to do is be lectured on this issue by someone who coddled the twice-impeached president," Aguilar said, referring to former President Donald Trump.

"Brilliant members are putting forth different pieces of legislation," Jeffries added. "And we're going to handle this in a thoughtful, evidence-based fashion and come to a conclusion at the end of the day."