Bashing Nancy Pelosi for trading stocks? Yes — that’s a party that Sen. Ted Cruz would like to join. Cruz, a Texas Republican, is weighing the idea of introducing his own bill to ban members of Congress — among them the Democratic House Speaker from California — from the controversial practice of buying and selling individual stocks, sources told On The Money. On Wednesday, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) announced plans to introduce The Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act, which will crack down on members of Congress and their families from picking stocks, instead limiting them to more vanilla-type mutual funds and the like. Ossoff’s plans for the bill, which would clamp down on Pelosi and her husband, Paul — a Silicon Valley investor who lately has gobbled up options on Google, Disney and Roblox — were first reported by The Post on Saturday. Just hours later, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced he would also introduce legislation banning such stock trades in Congress. Not to be outdone, Cruz, a Texas Republican, is now considering how he can join the fray, according to Beltway insiders. “Hawley and Cruz want to one-up each other,” a source close to the Senators told On The Money. “They don’t want to let the other one own the issue… they’d never join the other Senator’s bill because it would mean they couldn’t be the star.” Cruz is still in the brainstorming phase — and trying to figure out how he can differentiate his legislation, a source adds. To date, Cruz appears to have stayed away from making suspicious trades. His wife is a managing director at Goldman Sachs. Cruz is also infamous for moving slowly when it comes to writing and introducing legislation, this person adds — and cautions it could take a while for Cruz to put pen to paper. “He’s going to take a tough stance because this legislation isn’t going to go anywhere,” a source adds. “These are just messaging bills.” Sen. Cruz’s office declined comment. While it’s unclear what value will be added by creating another anti-stock trading bill, people close to Cruz say it doesn’t matter. see also “The US Senate never thinks there are too many cooks in the kitchen,” this person adds. The flurry of legislation comes after Pelosi brushed off worries over stock picking by lawmakers last month, claiming it was part of the “free-market economy” — comments that made Democratic insiders “blood boil,” people close to the speaker told The Post. In December, the House Speaker disclosed that the Pelosis scooped up millions in bullish call options for tech stocks. At the same, some insiders say she has slow-walked efforts to rein in Big Tech. Even though the legislation may not move forward, some cynical observers are heartened by the content of the bills. “Posturing on issues that matter is a good thing — it helps the cause,” Jeff Hauser, founder and director of the Revolving Door Project told The Post. Others are rolling their eyes. “He’s just showboating and he’s late to the game,” one progressive operative told The Post.
