dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Elizabeth Warren’s bipartisan bill banning stock trading on Capitol Hill has a little-noticed provision that could save lawmakers millions of dollars worth of capital gains taxes — and Nancy Pelosi is signaling she likes it.

On the face of it, the forthcoming Ban on Congressional Stock Ownership Act from Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) would be the most stringent proposed crackdown on stock trading to date. It wouldn’t just ban members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks and require them to put their assets in a blind trust — like another popular Democratic proposal. It also would require them to sell off all their individual stock holdings altogether, sources familiar with the bill told The Post.

Nevertheless, according to a less-noticed provision in the bill, lawmakers who convert their stocks would also receive a massive sweetener: They would be able convert their stocks into broad-based investment funds or Treasury bonds while deferring any capital gains taxes until they sell off the new assets — and if they die before selling the assets, the taxes would be waived altogether.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — who previously dismissed concerns about stock trading by members of Congress but made a dramatic about-face in February when she said she was open to a ban — could save millions of dollars from the Warren-Daines capital gains exemption since her husband frequently trades shares of big tech companies.

During a press conference last week, Pelosi was quick to point out that a similar capital gains deferral exists for the executive branch, where officials are already banned from owning individual stocks.

“As you know, in the executive branch, when they divest of their stock, they don’t pay capital gains,” Pelosi said. “So that’s an interesting feature.”

The tax savings from the bill for members of Congress could even potentially outweigh any profits they would have made from trading individual stock, according to tax analyst and Columbia Business School professor Robert Willens — giving backers the dual advantage of looking virtuous while also making money.

“It’s an absolutely reasonable thing to consider whether the advantages of tax deferral — if not permanent tax elimination if you die with the property — outweigh the advantages,” Willens told The Post. “This in essence confines them to very safe and placid investments while also looking like they’re occupying the moral high ground.”

In Willens’ view, the tax deferral would essentially give Pelosi and other stock-picking members of Congress “interest free loans from the government.” Pelosi has not endorsed the Warren-Daines bill or any other proposed legislation dealing with stock trading by members of Congress.

https://nypost.com/2022/02/14/pelosi-other-stock-trading-pols-could-avoid-capital-gains-taxes-under-warren-proposal/

OLYMPIA, WA – Washington State Representative Joel McEntire (19th legislative district) posted to Facebook Saturday announcing that Democrat House Speaker Laurie Jinkins announced that prayer at the Capitol could no longer be done “in the name of Jesus.”

According to an email from Julie Barrett with Conservative Ladies of Washington (CLW), there has been “a small handful of radical left Democrats in the House who are terrorizing Speaker of the House, Laurie Jinkins and Representative Pat Sullivan with complaints about prayers that mention the name of Jesus.”

Meanwhile, Laurie Jinkins’ profile photo on Facebook includes a frame promoting the Marxist group, Black Lives Matter, as well as phrases such as “All genders are whole, holy, & good.”

“Washington Democrats,” McEntire said. “So inclusive, they have kicked Jesus out of the Capitol.”

https://www.redvoicemedia.com/2022/02/attack-on-the-first-amendment-washington-state-house-speaker-announces-no-more-praying-in-the-name-of-jesus/