A feud between Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and tantrum-prone Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R) ran into a second day Thursday, with schoolboy-like taunts being showered in public.
Gaetz, a far-right lawmaker known for leading the House coup that took the gavel off former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), started the spat with a tweet in favor of a ban on members of Congress buying and selling individual stocks.
"We should pass a ban on trading stocks!" he wrote on X — accompanied by a graphic that showed Mullin's net worth ballooning from $12 million in 2018 to $63 million now, despite his drawing a congressional salary of just $174,000.
Mullin, who generated controversy recently by challenging a union boss to a fight in a congressional hearing, hit back.
" has criticism of hard-earned success — he should try building a business that gains value, it’s more gratifying than living off your daddy’s money," posted Mullin.
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Banning members from trading individual stocks has been a perennial matter of debate, as they often have advance warning of policy changes that can affect stock values. This week, Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) was found to have sold off $50,000 in shares of Boeing stock as a committee he sat on prepared to release a report about crashes of the Boeing 737 Max jet, and missed the deadline to report the transaction by two months.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who along with her husband owns tens of millions of dollars in various securities assets, had pledged, under pressure, to take up legislation on the issue in the previous Congress, but nothing came of it, and some members have accused her of deliberately letting it die.
