Panel OKs ban on lawmaker insider trading
The U.S. Capitol building. (Nov. 19, 2011) Credit: AP
WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee Wednesday approved a bill to bar members of Congress from insider trading, moving quickly on a measure to address shrinking public trust in Washington lawmakers.
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs voted 7-2 for the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, which merged proposals by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.). Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), the committee chair, said he's pressing for passage because the public mistakenly believes Congress is exempt from insider trading laws.
The bill explicitly bars insider trading by members of Congress, staff and families; affirms that insider trading laws apply to Congress; requires lawmakers to report stock trades every 30 days and directs congressional ethics panels to write rules to ban insider trading.
The committee amended the bill to require lawmakers to file their personal financial disclosure statements electronically. It also added a provision to apply the insider-trading ban to all federal employees.
But the committee dropped, for now, a provision that would require lobbyist registration by "political intelligence" firms that sell congressional insider information about legislative actions affecting business or the economy to hedge funds and others on Wall Street. The bill tasks the Government Accountability Office to study it.
A CBS "60 Minutes" story that reported some lawmakers made money on stock trades during the 2008 economic crash after they attended closed briefings spurred the legislation. But Lieberman said the bill won't be brought up before the full Senate until next year.
"I think we are moving way too fast on this bill," Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said at the session. "I intend to make it difficult" for the measure to pass, he added. In the House, 232 members are co-sponsoring a similar bill, but House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) last week canceled a committee session to vote on it. The co-sponsors include Democratic Reps. Gary Ackerman of Roslyn Heights, Tim Bishop of Southampton, Steve Israel of Dix Hills and Carolyn McCarthy of Mineola.
Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) said insider-trading laws already apply to Congress. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) did not respond to queries.
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