Bill to ban insider trading in Congress is suddenly popular

[alp227]

For six years, Rep. Louise M. Slaughter pressed her colleagues to co-sponsor legislation that would ban them from using information they gleaned on Capitol Hill to guide their trades in the stock market.

Most lawmakers bristled, offended by the mere suggestion that they would ever engage in such behavior. Others politely listened but walked away — some as recently as last month. Slaughter (D-N.Y.) never expected to hear from them again.

But now, as the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee prepares to hold the first of two congressional hearings on the topic, Slaughter’s Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act has become an overnight sensation.

Slaughter has 127 co-sponsors, up from the nine she had on Nov. 12, the day before “60 Minutes” aired a piece highlighting investments that congressional leaders made in companies while legislative efforts were underway that may have affected stock values. The piece was based on “Throw Them All Out,” a book released last month by Hoover Institution fellow Peter Schweizer.

full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bill-to-ban-insider-trading-in-congress-is-suddenly-popular/2011/11/30/gIQAn193DO_singlePage.html

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. Anything to keep their phony baloney jobs.

So if no one would *ever* engage in such behaviour, then why notjust codify it and be done with it?

/cough

[johnb72341js]

3. indeed

[Marie Marie]

2. Christ - this should be a no brainer.

It's so unethical it stinks to high Heaven. Make it illegal so they at least have to break the law (which will never be enforced) to continue to cash in on their abuse of power. I guess that Martha Stewart was their (wink wink) token example of enforcement on this often ignored law for the rest of the new millennium.