President Donald Trump offered support Monday for GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s push to circumvent House Republican leaders and force a vote on a congressional stock trading ban.
Trump on Monday morning shared a post on Truth Social with a video of Luna’s pushing her promised discharge petition that would force a House vote on banning member trading that Speaker Mike Johnson has so far bottled up. Trump’s post included a previous comment that called the effort a “MASSIVE WIN” and praised her for deploying “a procedural loophole” to take action.
Johnson and GOP leaders have sought for weeks to tamp down member interest in Luna’s threatened discharge petition, with the speaker arguing in private that some lawmakers need to be able to trade stocks in order to pay for their children’s schooling.
Luna said in a brief interview last week that she expects GOP leaders to put a recently released bipartisan congressional stock trading ban on the floor this month. If not, the Florida Republican said she will move forward as soon as next month with her discharge petition.
Luna and a group of other lawmakers spoke with Johnson about the matter on the floor last week, and he indicated he would work with them on the topic, according to two people granted anonymity to describe the private conversation. Johnson has said publicly he personally supports a trading ban, but he and other GOP leaders are facing pressure from many in their ranks who oppose the ban.
Luna’s effort, which would discharge separate legislation from Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), faces some pushback from Democrats who want the more comprehensive bipartisan bill to pass.
