A Republican on Capitol Hill has joined with majority Democratic support to advance a bill that could regulate how lawmakers trade stocks.
Now Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, normally an ally of President Donald Trump, is getting some pretty fierce tongue lashing on social media for his role in the development.
In addition to its limits on lawmakers, the bill as proposed includes provisions that would require the president and vice president to immediately cease trading any stocks and, come 2029, would require them to divest from any stock holdings.
"We've worked on this for years," Sen. Hawley told reporters. "It's really simple: It bans members of Congress from trading stock. It's not that hard. And guess what? Members of Congress hate it, because they want to trade stock. They make a lot of money doing it."
Banning Congressional stock trading has a fair amount of support on Capitol Hill, and a fair bit of it is bipartisan.
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President Trump earlier on Wednesday even signaled he supported the legislation — but quickly walked that position back in a long post on Truth Social, in which he derided Hawley as a "second-tier senator."
"The Democrats, because of our tremendous ACHIEVEMENTS and SUCCESS, have been trying to “Target” me for a long period of time, and they’re using Josh Hawley, who I got elected TWICE, as a pawn to help them," President Trump wrote on Wednesday. "I wonder why Hawley would pass a Bill that Nancy Pelosi is in absolute love with — He is playing right into the dirty hands of the Democrats. It’s a great Bill for her, and her “husband,” but so bad for our Country!"
It is not likely that the legislation will ultimately pass. Sen. Hawley was the only Republican senator to support the bill when it came out of committee.
President Trump also holds outsize influence in this Congress about Republican policy priorities — and Sen. Hawley earlier acknowledged that the legislation would need the president's support.
