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Subscribe to RSSThe Senate on Thursday sent President Barack Obama a scaled-down bill to explicitly ban members of Congress, the president and thousands of other federal workers from profiting from nonpublic information learned on the job.
Obama has said he would sign the bill.
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 on a 96-3 vote. The lawmakers who voted no were Republican Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Charles Grassley of Iowa.
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The bill would give the public a more frequent look at financial transactions of government officials. A driving force has been Congress' focus on its own dismal approval ratings, which ranged from 12 to 19 percent in polls over the last several weeks.
Public reports would 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.
Both the House and Senate overwhelmingly have approved separate versions of the STOCK Act, which stands for Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge. A segment on CBS' "60 Minutes" in November said that members of Congress were profiting from inside information, giving new impetus to legislation that had languished for years.
Lacking enough votes, Majority Leader Harry Reid abandoned the Senate's own, stronger bill and decided to accept the House legislation, which stripped out two key provisions from the bill that originally passed the Senate.
One was designed to strengthen criminal laws in public corruption cases, including restoration of tools used by prosecutors that were limited by a Supreme Court ruling.
The second, which was more controversial, would have required registration and public reports — similar to those filed by lobbyists — by anyone selling inside information learned from members of Congress and their staffs.
Opponents of regulating so-called political intelligence operatives substituted a study to learn more about individuals and firms collecting and selling information.
Federal officials, including members of Congress, are not excluded from federal laws prohibiting insider trading. But there is little public information showing that members of Congress have been investigated.
Recently, it was learned the Office of Congressional Ethics was looking at the trading activities of Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala. In the two months surrounding the 2008 financial collapse and subsequent $700 billion economic bailout passed by Congress, Bachus made more than three dozen trades. The OCE is an independent ethics office of the House, run by a board outside of Congress.
Bachus, now chairman of the House Financial Services Committee but then the panel's senior Republican under a Democratic chairman, participated in closed briefings on the crisis by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. He's denied using inside information, and subsequent records show he incurred a net loss of $19,490.
Bachus has denied any wrongdoing.
The bill has a number of additional provisions, including one major exemption. The frequent reporting will not include transactions in widely held investment funds that are publicly traded, have diversified assets and are not controlled by the covered government official.
The bill also adds stronger ethical and legal provisions.
It would deny federal retirement benefits to the president, vice president or an elected official of a state or local government convicted of certain felonies. It also would prohibit senior executives of mortgage giants Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac from receiving bonuses while the companies are under government control. And it would expand the definition of public corruption crimes and increase maximum penalties.
It also requires officials to disclose the mortgages on their primary residences, a provision that has been exempt from reporting requirements.
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How about insider outsider trading .... ??
Oh, they can still trade on the knowledge they have as Congress people, they just have to report their trades more often.
Thus the Governmentspeak does continue, nothing really changes and former Congress people can still get insider political information for profit and not have to report as lobbyists.
Ain't your government great !!!
Another bill which does nothing to stop the real problems its labeled to solve.
The Senate on Thursday sent President Barack Obama a "scaled-down bill". I wonder why they scaled it down? I guess they still want to retire as millionaires instead of billionaires.
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"Looks like Santorum & Newt will need a new job"
One less "political perk" for our political pundits that has to date been unavailable to the "masses"...............a.k.a. the common people of America............how elitist! How else could a dirt poor teacher from Texas like LBJ go into a politics and retire a multi-millionaire?!?!?
Gotta love the republicon house. We don't want to regulate insider trading...we'll instead allocate a "study" of the practice.
I'm sure that "study" will zero in on the problem.
It's a bill rendered toothless by the provisions that were cut. This is supposed to increase their approval rating? It just dropped 5 more points in my eyes.
Vote 'em all out and start over. No more professional politicians. (yeah, I know it's pipe dream.)
Even the provision that were scrapped are worthless. This bill is nothing but a Show bill because of congress's approval rating and the publics outcry when it was first reported on 60 minutes.
There's 536 Representatives elected to Federal Office. What does it say about our political system when we cant even find 536 honest people out of a country of 394 million people and a Bill has to be Passed to force them to act honorably and with integrity?
Here's a crazy idea. A U.S. Representative gets paid $174,000.00 a year. If they serve for 12 years they get audited when they retire, lose election etc. If they somehow made more than $175,000.00*12 = $2,088,000.00 during their time in office, minus any investments that were in a blind trust that they had absolutely no control over then they go to jail.
Every five years after serving they get audited. If for some reason they come into big windfalls that cant be accounted for by earning it honestly, bamm, they go to Jail.
And it is an independent agency that overseas Congress. and hat agency is only answerable to the Supreme court so that no congress or administration has any control over it. Letting Congress police themselves is letting the drug addict guard the drugs.
Charles Rangle's case is a perfect example. He was found guilty of Ethics violations, in Charlies case 11, "Here's your slap on the wrist Charley, even though you lied on your income for 17 years, now go out and get re-elected."
Jusbiden - My grandmother grew up with LBJ's wife. Her family owned a ton of land in Northeast Texas and she (Claudia Taylor) inherited it. My other grandmother worked for LBJ for over 30 years (never voted for him but wouldn't vote for a Republican if someone held a gun to her head) and knew that he married into money. That's how he retired better off when he decided not to run for another term. He wasn't the millionaire, his wife was.
jb
This reminds me of when we were told by the cosmetics industry "We will no longer include cow brains and spinal material in our products." WTF?
You mean YOU WERE?! what the hell is wrong with people?
So, business as usual within, and ooutside, the Congressional Halls.
Sorta reminds me of our Congressional representatives passing Federal Income Tax Laws and still not abide by them. Oh yeah, HUNDREDS of our "elite" Congressional Representatives have FAILED TO PAY THEIR BACK IRS TAXES, even though they are the ones writing the tax laws:
Our beloved Senator Grassley(r) had made a public pronouncement blaming Harry Reid for not including the registering of political operatives. You will see he was one of the 3 no votes. What Chuckles didn't tell you is that he placed an amendment to cover his political butt that he knew his own Republican colleages would kill.By the way that is why Newt isn't registered as a lobbyist. He and his ilk are political operatives.
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE OF CONGRESS!
If No they all should go!
There is no other way
Occupy Congress
This a no change bill. It only restates the initial bill that was instituted years ago and has no teeth. It has all kinds of loopholes, double meanings and has no real penalties.
We are right back to the Congressional membership inside trading through front men and family trusts.
Until they actually include accountability in this, its all window dressing.
You can ALL thanks Eric Cantor (GOP House Majority leader) for shielding the political intelligence community from the STOCK act. This bill did NOTHING to stop lawmakers from providing hedge funds and other Wall street investors inside info on legislation. This info comes quid pro quo... in other words if Cantor provides Hedge Fund XYZ with information about cap and trade legislation the hedge fund will contribute money to his campaign as a REWARD.
Thanks grand ole plutocrat (GOP) partyy for once again selling out the people of the US to the wall street fat cats.
AMF
Wow! Look at how those criminal SOB's juggle around to strip the bill of any teeth so they can keep cheating! Just look at them. It's so obvious! Why do we tolerate their blatant crimes???
Just another smoke and mirrors bill for appearances only. You can bet Obama will make a big deal out of it that he is changing the culture in Washington. Wink wink nod nod. I am sure Representative Chellie Pingree and her billionaire hedge fund manager husband are breathing a sigh of relief that it will be business as usual in Washington.
ALL men are created equal!!!
REALLY?
@jackieboy, I forget the exact details, but a family member of mine who served in 'Nam told me that Lady Bird Johnson owned fueling rights for some god-forsaken airstrip in the middle of the Pacific during wartime, and air force planes heading to and from the theater were routinely ordered to stop and refuel there, even though it was out of the way and aircraft fuel capacity was such that refueling was not necessary for that leg of the trans-Pacific flight. Makes ya think...
Email your congressmen/women and tell them you want term limits. Not being able to make a career out of politics would curtail many of the self-serving practices we find so outrageous.
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
Yes as much as i want Obama replaced.These folks in congress need term limits.Fresh blood and new ideas.might actually slow down all the corruption.
Smoke and Mirrors, you really think they are going to stop?
"Are they going to have Porn in this Bill"
Not for a second.
Oh yay, they are going to vote to change nothing.
This is a joke and a waste of time. Just send a real bill to the American people in November. Congress isn't going to outlaw their own get rich quick scheme.
"Newt & Santorum are having gas pains over this bill, they said this bill is drawing flies"
I wonder who insisted on scaling down the bill. I wonder why the AP didnt report THAT.! And what wAS the scale down? Things that make you go HHHMMMM.................
Actually, there was a lot of reporting on the scaling down.
Basically, what they passed is a bill that says that it is wrong for members of congress to engage in insider trading, but they can do it anyway. It also says that anyone that they share that information with has register like a lobbyist.
So in short if you want your congressman to give you stock tips you need to be a lobbyist and contribute to his campaign. He's free to trade on priveledged information all he wants though.
Another B.S. Bill to go hand in hand with our full of sh*t government.
Iowa guy. I don't know where you got that info but it is wrong. As long as you don't register as a lobbyist you can sell as much insider info as you want. Grassleys amendment was killed by his own party just as he planned.Turn off Jan. Turn on some real news.
Just hold the public sector to the same standards as the private sector. This should also apply to other insider information like the buying and selling of land.
You can't make any one on here say something positive about anything.Loosen up people life is short.
OK, next drug testing. The military and many other federal agencies have random drug testing.
Three big loopholes in the bill:
First: The reports have to be posted based on the individual whose account the transaction took place on. You know how easy that is to get around? They do it already to avoid paying taxes on various investments and other transactions, so it's not like they can't do the same here. Which makes perfect sense, since the people who developed the bill are the same people who know exactly how to get around the legislation in the first place.
Second: What are the provisions if they don't report? It appears that the major part of compliance on this bill is incumbent on the reporting of the individual involved? So what happens if they choose not to report?
Third: Who exactly is responsible for enforcing this? Exactly. It's essentially going to be self-regulated by the same people who were attempting to profit off the transactions in the first place.
This is a typical piece of legislation that started out with some promise, but then got so watered down as it moved forward that it's become neutered and ineffective by the time it gets signed into law.
The foxes won't be in charge of the henhouse, just happily 'surprised' when the chickens end up in their pot...
Blind Trusts! That's the only way this is ever going to be somewhat credible - they don't know who is investing their money or in what ... the trader has no idea whose money he or she is investing or what changes they might be supporting in Congress! As it stands its going to take some dogging to stay on top of what they're getting away with - - I don't have time, do you? Blind Trusts!
So the 3 republicans that voted no are for insider trading, interesting.
perhaps they objected to the fact that the Senate version was scaled down? liberal fools with little brains and no ability to think.
Lacking enough votes, Majority Leader Harry Reid abandoned the Senate's own, stronger bill and decided to accept the House legislation, which stripped out two key provisions from the bill that originally passed the Senate.
Read the article before you flap your gums
You got owned.
I wonder how many millions these politicians have made up to this date. Harry Reid profited from his renewable energy bill he has passed in his 26 year career. He passed bills that benefited Apex, a solar company, as well as himself. The government is not fooling me, this just proves how guilty they are of inside trading as Wall Street.
nancy pelosi said what she does can't be wrong since she's been doing it for decades. john kerry doesn't have a problem with making millions of legislature he votes for.
Reid,anouther person who had no money,all of a sudden bought land and turned it over and made big money.Him at Poulouzy,they stink!
Wow.....The government actually drew up "scaled down" legislation in an attempt to curb thier own greedy wrong doings. Can't wait to see how that all works out......NOT. The house post's thier info on the internet but the senate still requires you to visit a senate bldg. to aquire the info........ROFLMFAO!!!!!!!!!! Crooked SOB's can all rot in hell as far as I'm concerned. They will all always be crooks because the American people are not going to do one damn thing about it and THEY KNOW THAT!!
It always gets me that Congress is in charge of laws against them or for them. Like pay raises, insider trading and other things like health care and travel expenses. A bill against Insider Trading should be a yes or no period. I'm not for sure what a scale down version is. No doubt, it will be in the favor of Congress. These Congressman's that vote for insider trading, should be voted out of our Congress, be it democrat or republican.
The real crime is our Congress being allowed to continue one more day...... Insider trading should have never been allowed or considered in our Congress..... You cannot vote them out..... Each one is a carbon copy of the other......
I heard they would have to vote for term limits on themselves,yeah like thats gonna happen.
According to the Pentagon, several members of the NRA, Christian Moral Majority, Dow chemicals, and several other groups and companies ...were allowed into the Congressional Hall, without invitations.
Sounds to me, that the lobbyists have been given free total reign of the interior governmental offices. To me that's a breech of trust, that they pass laws, but do not now abide by them.
If no invitation was sent to these individuals...why were they allowed access to congress?
Being in government is like winning the lottery. The higher you are the bigger the jackpot.
and if you contribute to Obama's campaign he'll make sure you get bailed out with tax payer funds.
This is just a soft landing on something that should have never been happening in the first place. I know the lobbyists are still laughing and the Congress of the United States fills like they're getting off easy with the passing of this bill hahahahaha.
This is another example of a Congress who no longer fuctions for the good of this country or people.
This legislation is a joke. It is congress trying to appear to be doing something when they are in fact doing nothing. Yet, they wonder why their approval rating is consistently in the single digits.
As the saying goes, you can not fool all the of the people all of the time. People are getting wise to what these politicians are doing and we don't like what we are seeing.
Wasn't the saying "You can fool some of the people all of the time, you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all of the time" and the politicians just want you to keep your eye on their right hand, while ignoring the left hand reaching in you pocket.
I wrote a strong eye opening comment and erased it all.
What was I thinking.....I am not in America any longer....no free speech anyway and govt is lying and stealing.
If you are a thinking peron...you should know that corruption is the basis of our political system. The news and the politicians (Dems and Republicans) all are on the same team.
Prepare.
Only you can tell us what country you live in.. I live in the USA & we have lost no freedoms
Freedom of Speech is abused by those who don't understand how to communicate effectively with respect or knowledge of the issues,,, it becomes irresponsible speech & intolerable to most people
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NDAA,drones flying over the usa. New powers given to the president in an emergency.Wake up.
I believe that when I see it. Nothing like a politician breaking the law and getting away with it.
This is smoke & mirrors hype for the masses and entrenches the distrust even further with this move, as if saying "ok we promise to start playing fair from now on". Whatever- what about perks, kickbacks and bonuses from other sources like from drug industry lobbyists? Who is going to monitor their activities anyway?
Both the Democrats and Republicans in Congress just do not get it! The american people are tired of the massive corruption that is the norm in Congress! I am tired of the looting and payoffs that members of Congress take!
We need a third party! An American Middle class party. These criminals have only one way to operate. That is YOU MUST PAY ( Members of Congress) to Play!
Put them all in jail! They have destroyed our mcountry and the middle Class for the last 12 years! Enough with the Criminal Elite Members of Congress! They have no concept of the pain and destruction that they are causing Americans and the country overall! Lets get rid of ALL OF THE BUMS!!!!
The insider trading will continue, they have a hundred ways to hide their corruption on both sides of the aisles but, oh surprise! the only ones to vote NO, even if they were just a few, were REPUBLICANS!!
More sound than substance I suspect. I would be impressed if they acted to stamp out the merry practice of prewiring for predetermined recipients purportedly open solicitations published under the guise of small business opportunity. I suspect that is actually a far bigger problem open to greater abuse.