How One Law Could Finally Force Both Parties to Stop Insider Trading for Good | Anna Paulina Luna

0:00Over 86 % of Americans, regardless of party affiliation, want this practice to end and they support what we're doing. I can say that with Nancy Pelosi, I think the return was 17 ,000 % from the time that she left office. And on average, members, I'm not saying that all the ones that are stock trading are doing it illegally, but a majority are. You're seeing those 600 % returns almost guaranteed. They're outperforming the S &P. or you have instances where, you know, you have a member of Congress who might not technically be trading, but then all of a sudden, you know, Susan from wherever, who was a stay-at-home mom for 20 years, is now like the most prolific stock trader that you've ever met and is outperforming Wall Street.

0:46All right, Congresswoman Anna Polina Luna, somehow this is the first time we've met. we had to come to D.C. for two Floridians to meet. How are you dealing with this weather? Well, you're jacketed up, so I guess I know. I wear coats till May. Don't go outside much. You have become, I would say, one of the most outspoken people in all of Congress right now. Like every time I open up Twitter, you're doing something with a camera right in front of your face saying all sorts of stuff. What is like your main focus at the moment? I'd have to say that, so the best piece of advice I ever got was actually when I first ran for office.

1:20It was from Jim Jordan. And it was, if you follow through on your promises on the campaign trail, being in office is not that hard. So I'm simply following through all my promises to my constituents. I ran on ending government corruption. I also had up one of the task force to kind of look into the declassified files that Trump's been releasing. But specifically to what I'm trying to do right now, we have a massive problem in this country with insider trading. And for almost a decade, members of Congress had been talking about it. And by the time I got elected my second term, I realize how it goes up here.

1:50So a lot of people will come up here. They'll say what they need to say to get elected, but then they understand that there's never going to really be a vote. They're never really going to push the issue. And if they fall in line, they'll get their legislation put on the floor. They'll get their invitations to different events. And then it'll pretty much be an easy job where they're not really called out for what they're doing. So one of the biggest things that we're doing right now is if you really want to talk about the crux of the issue of affordability in this country, you could even talk about foreign policy and how it's been impacted by people's stock portfolios.

2:19It all ties to the fact that members of Congress are still allowed to individually trade stock. And not just that, but majority of members on both sides are engaging in insider trading and anyone who's telling you otherwise is lying to you. And so we're forcing the vote on that, or we're trying to at least. So when people see Nancy Pelosi's, there's the Nancy Pelosi stock trader, or even Marjorie Taylor Greene, who I think came in with around$750 ,000, is gonna leave with about 30 million. Now, I know some of it's from her husband's construction or some of these things, but you just start seeing these crazy numbers all over the place.

2:51How is this not just like the easiest win ever in general? Because everyone, I think, ideologically is on board. Man, something doesn't seem right here. Yeah, over 87 % or 86 % of Americans, regardless of party affiliation, want this practice to end and they support what we're doing. I can say that with Nancy Pelosi, I think the return was 17 ,000 % from the time that she, I'm serious, that she left office. And on average, members, I'm not saying that all the ones that are stock trading are doing it illegally, but a majority are. You're seeing those 600 % returns almost guaranteed. They're outperforming the S &P.

3:24Or you have instances where you have a member of Congress who might not technically be trading, but then all of a sudden, Susan from wherever, who was a stay-at-home mom for 20 years, is now like the most prolific stock trader that you've ever met and is outperforming Wall Street. And so what you're finding is that - My UBS guy is really looking pretty crappy right now. Exactly. So, you know, you have instances like that. Marjorie actually ended up signing our discharge petition. Nancy Pelosi has not. And so it's interesting because, you know, I did hear some of the Democrats are signing on. Again, we have, I think, the number 67 and we need 218 votes to force this.

3:58But I did something that I think a lot of people didn't expect. So I actually called up a bipartisan consensus bill that had been worked on by both Democrats and Republicans that had 100 co-sponsors. And the reason I did that is because, A, I don't really care if I get the credit for this or not. But what I do think is you need as many people on your side on this issue because of the fact that we're fighting our own parties on both sides. So you have bipartisan support with the American people overwhelmingly, but there's massive bipartisan opposition from within. And so, you know, we've been told both myself and Tim Burchett that if we were forcing the vote, that we were going to force our colleagues to take a bad vote, that we are going to cost the party and Congress the midterms, that we were going to destroy democracy.

4:42I kid you not, that was what we were told. But then, you know, we responded and saying, well, last time I checked, our founding fathers didn't have massive stock portfolios. And by the way, it's still legal. So, you know, this has been one of the things that I think that if you actually want to tackle all these issues. Like we can talk about, here's an example, capping prescription prices, right? A majority of members of Congress, I think it's one in three, are exposed to pharmaceuticals, BlackRock or Vanguard. But the pharmaceutical lobby specifically, in addition to the fact that members of Congress are directly profiting off of what's happening with the American people getting gouged, if you were to cap that, the stock would drop.

5:14And then thus it would impact their personal wallets. Like how could you ever be expected to represent your people if you're doing that? If you've ever been seriously hurt in an accident, your injury could actually be worth millions, and most people have no idea. Insurance companies love to lowball claims offering way less than what you deserve. That's why there's Morgan & Morgan, America's largest injury law firm, with over 1 ,000 attorneys across 50 states. They've been fighting for people for more than 30 years, and they don't settle for lowball offers. Just recently, they won$12 million in Florida,$26 million in Philadelphia, and$6.8 million in New York, all way above what insurance companies offered.

5:50And the best part, it's completely free unless you win. No upfront costs, no hidden fees. It takes only a couple minutes to see if you have a case. Did you know you can start a claim with America's largest injury law firm in just one click? It's super easy. Just go to forthepeople.com slash Rubin or click the link in the description and pin comment.

6:13So what would you say to someone who would say, well, okay, you can put all these laws in place and all these regulations around the trading and everything else, but they'll always figure out a way around it, meaning that this whole town leaks like crazy and you can put regulations in, but somebody's brother is going to talk to somebody's cousin who worked with the lobbyists. There's sort of no way to actually control the beast. Well, this legislation specifically, the one that we called up on the discharge, would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses, and their direct dependent children from trading.

6:42If your brother happens to find out information and starts trading, that's on him. That's still illegal. Most people go to jail for that, right? The insider trading information. But specifically, it would prohibit members of Congress from doing it. And I think that that's the biggest thing, because you actually have people that are on committees of jurisdiction for this legislation. Or for example, if you're on House Armed Services, and you have a massive defense portfolio, you know, who's getting what contracts, etc. And you're seeing that take place in real time. And so this has definitely made me probably the most wildly unpopular member on the Hill, but very popular among the American people is what I'm saying.

7:15Right. Yeah. Let's talk about Florida for a little bit. We're, we're doing pretty damn well, and I'm very happy about it. What, what, what, what else do we need to do in Florida to keep this trajectory going? Um, I, so this is just strictly a Florida thing. You'll understand this, but I really want them to get away or get rid of the property taxes. Yeah. So you can, you think DeSantis can pull this off? Is this going to be his kind of final gift to the state? I hope so. And I think that if he really rallies the, the chambers in the Florida legislature, that might happen. What is going on with the Florida legislature that it is so squishy and seemingly not on board some of this stuff?

7:51There's some good members from Pinellas County. I can't speak to the rest of them. There's some good ones from Pinellas County. I think it's that people, and there's a massive lobby in Tallahassee. So like you were around during hurricane season, we are getting raked over the coals with home insurance. But that's something that has to be done at the legislature. And there's a lot of money that goes into Tallahassee, you know, reelection campaigns. And that's unfortunate. A lot of people are suffering as a result of that. You probably know, being a Florida homeowner. But I would hope that DeSantis can get that done before he leaves, because that would be a huge deal.

8:27Yeah. What else do we have to keep doing there? I mean, we're doing so much right, it seems. But, you know, look, he's not going to be governor forever. We'll see what happens after. I mean, what else do you see as some of the issues in Florida? I think that right now it's really important to, and this is something that Governor, sorry, Representative Donald has talked about, but Fed proofing Florida. So I'll give you an example right now. DeSantis has been really big on, you know, making sure that Florida stays a free state. We saw this year in COVID. The one thing that concerns me, and I've talked to the speaker about this, and this does tie to Florida, is that, you know, we want to get legislation on this next appropriations that we're sending up to the Senate to ensure that central back digital currencies are illegal and can't happen.

9:12And Elizabeth Warren, we had put it in the National Defense Authorization Act, and Elizabeth Warren had it stripped out. She's like, I'll only accept a ban on CBDCs for five years. It's like, well, Elizabeth, that's not up to you. You know, other members of Congress and in the Senate think that that's pretty unconstitutional. By the way, if you're progressive, you could get your stuff shut off, too, if someone doesn't like what you're saying. So this affects everyone. And so I think, you know, having the ability to fed proof Florida in a sense that you want to ensure that the laws in Florida are in place and such that even if the federal government passes something crazy, that we're still OK.

9:48I think that the vaccine issue is a huge deal for a lot of parents in Florida. I love what they did with I think it was fluoride where they removed it. And then I think that, you know, focusing really on the food product and then the products that we're selling in our stores and groceries. I will say New York and California have actually done a good job with this. And the fact that they're not allowing toxic laundry detergents, a lot of the food requirements for what's considered healthy and normal and what's sold in supermarkets are a lot higher. And I think that we need to do that, too, because they're they're really poisoning our food supply.

10:17And by they mean a lot of these big manufacturers are coming in, what's cheaper is what they're going to do, even though it's not better for the people. And it's making people sick long term. So HHS is only around for a couple more years until Secretary Kennedy is gone. And so we have to continue that. Right. It's crazy because it's like, man, they could just they could just reverse it once Bobby's gone. It's like the Democrats come in next thing, you know, especially because we're not codifying. And so if we don't codify what he's doing, there's not going to be a lot of people that are going to want to codify him reversing some of like the vaccine requirements, for example, on, you know, Hep B or whatever else he's discussing.

10:50So that's a huge problem. And so that's why, you know, as far as states go and are concerned, Florida is one of the best states and I think leading the country. Sorry, Texas. So I know we could spend all day long talking about how crazy the Democrats have gone. But in our limited time remaining, what do you want to see the Republicans do over the next, say, 10 months as we roll into the midterm so that it doesn't become the bloodbath that, you know, most people are hoping for? Well, well, I'm sorry. I know we're not hoping for it, but but a lot of people obviously are predicting it. Trump last time around, you know, midterms never go well for the incumbents, et cetera, et cetera.

11:22I think if we ban insider trading, if we codify the executive order to cap prescription pricing, and if we focus on affordability, we'll be okay. But that would require codifying. And so I think that the Speaker, who I have a great relationship with, but I think that he needs to get very aggressive with Thune in these negotiations. And I think that right now, members of Congress need to back him on that. Because if he's considered weak, he can't go to the Senate and negotiate. But I'm also, too, the type of person that says, well, if we don't get our legislation, just blow it up. So maybe some more of that.

11:53Let's do this in Florida next time. Of course. Thank you. If you're craving more honest and thoughtful conversations about politics, check out our politics playlist right here. And if you don't want to miss any future videos, make sure to subscribe and hit that notification bell.