U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that he will press lawmakers to prohibit members of Congress from trading individual stocks, arguing that public officials should not profit from information unavailable to ordinary investors. Bessent singled out longtime Democratic lawmaker Nancy Pelosi, saying “the American people deserve better than politicians with hedge-fund level returns.” He added that “if any private citizen traded this way, the SEC would be knocking on their door,” underscoring what he called a double standard in enforcement. The push comes as bipartisan bills seeking to curb congressional stock trading have stalled in recent sessions. Prediction-market platform Kalshi assigns just a 7% chance that a ban will be enacted, underscoring the political hurdles Bessent faces despite mounting public pressure. Bessent noted that the Treasury Department has already expanded internal ethics restrictions to cover transactions in Treasury securities and said he would work with the Securities and Exchange Commission and congressional leaders on legislative language in the coming weeks.