STOCK TRADE TURF BATTLE

Cruz, Hawley vie to slam Pelosi

BASHING Nancy Pelosi for trading stocks? That’s a party Sen. Ted Cruz wants to join. Cruz, a Texas Republican, is weighing the idea of introducing his own bill to ban members of Congress — among them the Democratic House Speaker from California — from the controversial practice of buying and selling individual stocks, sources told On The Money.

On Wednesday, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) announced plans to introduce The Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act, which will crack down on members of Congress and their families from trading stocks, instead limiting them to more vanilla-type mutual funds and the like.

Ossoff’s plans for the bill, which would clamp down on Pelosi and her husband, Paul — a Silicon Valley investor who lately has gobbled up options on Google, Disney and Roblox — were first reported by The Post on Saturday.

Piling on

Just hours later, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced he would also introduce legislation banning such stock trades in Congress.

Not to be outdone, Cruz, a Texas Republican, is now considering how he can join the fray, according to Beltway insiders.

“Hawley and Cruz want to one-up each other,” a source close to the senators told On The Money. “They don’t want to let the other one own the issue . . . they’d never join the other senator’s bill because it would mean they couldn’t be the star.”

Cruz is still in the brainstorming phase, trying to figure out how he can differentiate his legislation, a source adds. To date, Cruz appears to have stayed away from making suspicious trades. His wife is a managing director at Goldman Sachs.

Cruz is also infamous for moving slowly when it comes to writing and introducing legislation, this person adds — and cautions it could take a while for Cruz to put pen to paper.

“He’s going to take a tough stance because this legislation isn’t going to go anywhere,” a source adds. “These are just messaging bills.”

Sen. Cruz’s office declined to comment.

“Hawley and Cruz want to one-up each other,” a source close to the senators told The Post.

While it’s unclear what value will be added by creating another antistock trading bill, people close to Cruz say it doesn’t matter.

“The US Senate never thinks there are too many cooks in the kitchen,” this person adds.

Putting up their dukes Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas, left) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) are trying to oneup each other, as well as Democratic colleagues, on a trading ban that would target, among others, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose husband, Paul, has been active in the market.

On the money