'New headache' emerges for Mike Johnson as Republican vows to bypass him

A Republican member of Congress believes she will pass a bill that has long been proposed — but never passed.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) is furious watching lawmakers make hefty cash on stock trades related to legislation they're passing. Luna intends to "end members’ ability to trade individual securities," Politico reported Tuesday.

“It’ll happen as soon as we get back,” she promised.

The outlet characterized her vow as "creating a new headache for Speaker Mike Johnson."

It comes after the House Ethics Committee found last week that Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) bought shares of steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs after he found out the Commerce Department "was launching an investigation that could result in tariffs benefiting the company — before notice of the investigation was made public."

The issue is an equal-opportunity problem, with members of both sides making stock trades over the years. Some also violate the disclosure laws that mandate members reveal their trades.

Luna said she plans to file a discharge petition, which allows a majority of Congress to side-step the Speaker's ability to control the floor. It requires signatures from 218 members of the House. In the past, it hasn't been used because it can be construed as disloyalty to the party in control, the report said.

Luna was successful in a previous discharge petition after Johnson (R-LA) refused to allow the parents of newborns to vote through a proxy. It meant a new mother wouldn't be allowed to serve in Congress and take maternity leave at the same time.

The STOCK Act was first passed in 2012, requiring that such trades be made public, but it fell short of banning lawmaker trades altogether. No lawmaker has ever been prosecuted using the STOCK Act, even when there has been compelling evidence.

Ten years later, the STOCK Act 2.0 was proposed with bipartisan support, but it also ultimately failed.

Now, Luna intends to push the vote, and she has a group of Democrats ready to support the move, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). The latest issue, however, is the differences between bills authored by Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) and Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Seth Magaziner (D-RI).

Thus far, neither then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) nor Speaker Johnson has allowed the measure to come up for a vote.

Read the full report here.