We’ll see if it gets anywhere, but the Senate’s Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee voted 7-2 today for the STOCK Act, the bill barring members of Congress from trading on inside information. It is a measure suddenly popular after a “60 Minutes” expose.
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, the chairman of the panel, said the revised leglsation bars members from profiting in “any way” on information not public. The original bill applied only to stock trades.
“A public perception has developed that Congress is not covered by insider trading laws, and worse, has exempted itself from them,” Lieberman said. “This is not true, but in this legislation we have eliminated ambiguities in current insider trading rules that might make it harder to prosecute a member of Congress than a member of the public for using non-public information for personal benefit.”