Nancy Pelosi's husband could potentially benefit from the success of the Alphabet stock.

• Google parent Alphabet's stock surge on Wednesday could result in significant gains for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, a businessperson and investor.
• In December, Paul Pelosi purchased call options that increased in value as Alphabet's stock price rose. On Wednesday, Alphabet experienced a gain of over 7%.
• During a growing bipartisan push in Congress to restrict stock ownership by lawmakers and their spouses, Alphabet's banner session takes place.

Google parent Alphabet's stock surge on Wednesday could result in significant gains for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, a businessman and investor.

In December, Paul Pelosi bought millions of dollars' worth of call options linked to the equity performance of Alphabet, Micron, and Walt Disney Co., despite her earlier statement that she opposed banning members of Congress from owning individual stocks. Several senators and representatives are now pushing for legislation to limit stock ownership by lawmakers and their spouses.

Members of Congress and their spouses are not prohibited from buying or selling stocks, bonds, and other securities. However, they and their spouses must disclose such trades within 45 days under the federal STOCK Act. Paul Pelosi's options purchases were disclosed within the legal timeframe in late December.

In January, Alphabet, Micron, and Disney experienced a decline in their stock prices during a broader sell-off of tech stocks. However, on Tuesday, Alphabet released a positive earnings report, causing its shares to rise more than 7% in Wednesday's trading session. This increase propelled Alphabet's Class C shares up approximately 2.3% over the past month, outperforming the S&P 500's loss of 3.7%.

On Dec. 17, Paul Pelosi purchased 10 Alphabet call options with a strike price of $2,000 and an expiration date set for mid-September 2022. This in-the-money purchase indicates that Pelosi believes Alphabet's stock price will remain above the strike price by mid-September.

The profit he collects from options contracts depends on the premiums he paid. He made a profit from Alphabet options last summer.

On Dec. 15, Speaker Pelosi sparked controversy when she voiced opposition to a renewed effort to restrict securities trading among congressional members and their spouses.

Pelosi, D-Calif., stated at a news conference in December that she would not support a prohibition on such participation, emphasizing that "we're a free market economy" and individuals should be allowed to participate in it.

The speaker stated that she would support ownership limits if her caucus members approved them.

A spokesperson for Speaker Pelosi's office declined to comment on whether Paul Pelosi still holds the call options in Alphabet.

Some public officials may be profiting on information before it's made public, according to a growing group of bipartisan lawmakers who point to trading activity by lawmakers during the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is examining whether GOP Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina's stock sales before the 2020 lockdowns were insider trading. The Justice Department ended its own investigations into insider trading by Senators Dianne Feinstein of California and Oklahoma Republican Senator Jim Inhofe.

A Georgia freshman Democratic senator, Jon Ossoff, has become a champion of stricter trading rules on Capitol Hill. He introduced legislation earlier this year that mandates members of Congress, as well as their spouses and dependents, to place their assets in a blind trust.

Last month, Ossoff stated that he supports prohibiting stock trading by Congress members who create policies, possess economic forecasting, and have access to sensitive information.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York have also expressed their support for stricter regulations on lawmakers and their spouses.

Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Dec. 7 that it is unbelievable that members of Congress can trade individual stocks while in office. She argued that the access and influence they possess should be used for the public good, not their own gain. It is illegal for them to trade individual stocks with the information they have.

But Democrats aren’t alone in their appetite for more rulemaking.

House Republican leaders have discussed in private meetings ways they can campaign on the issue of limiting stock trading on Capitol Hill.

The opposition to limiting congressional stock trades is bipartisan.

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., advised against creating more reasons for people to avoid public office during a CNBC interview on Wednesday morning. He pointed out that the current disclosure requirements are already extensive, with all transactions and assets being reported, allowing the public to make their own judgments about members of Congress.

Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, admitted that recent trades worth millions of dollars under his name were actually made by his wife.

I don't trade or support a ban on trade, as it's my wife's money and I had no legal rights to it. I didn't tell her what she could do with her money before marriage. However, I do support a ban on stock trading and members of Congress trading stocks. I believe that should not apply to spousal assets before marriage, as it would be unfair.

One of the first to spotlight the Pelosi trades and potential gains on Twitter was a profile managed by congresstrading.com.