Insider trading ban sent to White House

WASHINGTON -- The Senate sent the White House a bill on Thursday to explicitly ban members of Congress, the president and thousands of other federal workers from profiting from nonpublic information learned on the job.

While the bill lets the public see more of government officials' financial dealings, and view them online more frequently, it abandons an earlier proposal to require public reports from people who gather information from Congress -- and sell it, mainly to investors.

President Barack Obama has said he would sign the STOCK (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) Act.

The driving force behind the bill was Congress' need to boost its dismal approval ratings, and the perception from a television report that lawmakers are profiting personally from their work. Polls in the past several weeks indicated between 12 percent and 19 percent of Americans approved of the job Congress is doing.

The STOCK Act would require that public reports of new transactions exceeding $1,000 be posted online either 30 days after the individual was notified of a transaction in his or her account, or 45 days after the transaction.

The House currently posts disclosure information on the Internet, but the Senate still requires people seeking the data to appear personally in a Senate office building.

The disclosures would be in addition to the annual disclosure statements filed currently.

In an unusual move, the legislation passed unanimously without a vote on the measure itself. Passage was automatically triggered by a procedural motion that was approved, 96-3.

Just before that vote, the Senate passed legislation to help startup companies raise capital by reducing some federal regulations. Some Democrats warned that less government oversight would mean more abuse and scams.