Chris Josephs co-founded Autopilot, a company that has millions of dollars that copies the trading activity of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Despite this being part of his business, Josephs is in favor of banning Congress members from trading stocks, something he told Benzinga could be coming sooner than later.
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Congress Stock Trading Ban Close?
Josephs launched the Pelosi Stock Trader years ago as a way to highlight the questionably timed trades of Pelosi on social media.
One of the reasons for launching the tracker and eventually Autopilot was a feeling of throwing up your hands and saying if Congress members can trade “right in front of us, we’re going to join them,” Josephs told Benzinga.
It’s the disgust with the concept of Congress members buying and selling stocks with potential conflicts of interest and public awareness that could finally put an end to the practice.
“I think one, the people are sick of it. I think it’s essentially getting to that point,” Josephs said. “Two, is the midterms and it’s a great thing to run on.”
Josephs told Benzinga that people running for Congress in the 2026 election and taking on incumbents are likely to use the trading history of elected officials against them.
“They’re going to come out and say, ‘I support a ban on congressional stock trading.'”
The Autopilot co-founder said this could lead to more awareness for the practice again.
Another potential reason a ban is close is that the STOCK Act passed in 2011 and didn’t do enough in terms of transparency, Josephs added.
Josephs said the STOCK Act still allows a delay in disclosing stock trades and the ability to trade individual stocks that could be a conflict of interest.
“It just seems like the right time in history with all the distrust going on in society and especially with our governments and our politicians, that in passing this is a massive step towards better trust and transparency from elected officials.”
Josephs said telling members of Congress they can’t buy individual stocks, but can buy treasuries and ETFs is not unreasonable.
“You just can’t buy Raytheon while you’re sitting on an armed services committee and watching Iran get bombed,” Josephs said, highlighting Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) owning RTX Corp (NYSE:RTX) stock.
Family Member Ban, Cryptocurrency Among Potential Sticking Points
Josephs said one of the key battles in getting a congressional stock ban passed is whether family members would also be banned from trading.
Currently, spouses can make trades that also have to be publicly disclosed. Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, is a venture capitalist and regularly invests in stocks. This makes Pelosi the prime example of congressional trading and whether spouses should be allowed.
Josephs said the current proposal would ban members of Congress, their spouses and their children from trading individual stocks. These individuals would be able to buy ETFs and mutual funds.
A potential carve-out could see an exception to allow spouses to trade individual stocks if their job is dependent on the practice, such as Pelosi’s husband. Josephs said that a lot of politicians’ kids also work in wealth management, which would factor into the carve-out.
“This is going to be the biggest divide,” Josephs said of the potential carve-out or an all-or-nothing bill.
Current bills and proposals to ban congressional stock trading have also failed to include any wording on the trading of cryptocurrency like Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC).
Josephs said cryptocurrency is likely left out of the bills as it is more similar to owning gold and ETFs. President Donald Trump being supportive of cryptocurrency could also make it tougher to include the banning of buying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies inside a congressional trading bill, Josephs added.
Image via Shutterstock
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