Today, President Obama signed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act into law, which overwhelmingly passed both houses of Congress. The law takes aim at insider trading within Congress, which was exposed in a blockbuster 60 Minutes report late last year.
“The powerful shouldn’t get to create one set of rules for themselves and another set of rules to everybody else,” said Obama before signing the bill into law. “certainly should apply to our elected officials, especially at a time when there’s a deficit of trust” in Washington”:
But the bill has many major flaws. As the STOCK Act wound its …
In the Senate debate last week to amend the STOCK Act, a measure to prevent insider trading by lawmakers and some federal officials, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) successfully attached a smart proposal to the bill to require “political intelligence” firms to face disclosure requirements just as other lobbying firms are forced to disclose their clients.
The secretive world of political intelligence firms is only known outside of the financial industry and the Beltway by way of several investigative pieces by the Wall Street Journal. In essence, these firms do not qualify as traditional lobbyists because they exist to provide …
K Street has been reacting to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley’s amendment to the anti-insider trading STOCK Act passed in the Senate last week that would force D.C. influence peddlers who collect political intelligence and sell it to corporate clients to register under the lobbying disclosure law.
National Journal’s Influence Alley reports that some lobbyists have grumbled about why they have to publicly register and report their business while others who do the very similar things (i.e. Newt Gingrich) don’t have to comply with disclosure laws.
One of those complaining is financial service lobbyist Sam Geduldig who whined that …
Two days ago, the STOCK Act, bipartisan legislation to ban insider trading by members of Congress, passed the Senate by 96-3. The Senate bill now includes a provision to cover some federal employees, a 30 day disclosure requirement for lawmakers, and forces covered officials to disclose the details of their mortgage.
Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, one of the three legislators to vote against the legislation, said he opposes the bill partially because he “honestly believe[s] everyone in our body is never gonna use insider trading to advantage themselves over the best interests of our country.”
Watch …
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