Congressional Insider Trading Bill Clears House

Posted on Feb 9, 2012

TalkMediaNews (CC-BY)

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor ushered the measure through to passage Thursday.

Looks like that request President Obama made, in last month’s State of the Union address, to send him a bill to sign that would restrict members of Congress from taking financial liberties in their own investment activities wasn’t just a passing reference to score points with the public.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed a modified version of a bill that would hold congresspeople accountable for information they might pick up on the job that could be used to inflate their financial portfolios. Next stop: the Senate, where the measure might run into some resistance from lawmakers seeking more stringent standards.  —KA

Los Angeles Times:

The legislation is the most ambitious effort in years to clamp down on the personal business dealings of lawmakers, and was beefed up to cover executive branch appointees and employees.
 
[...] “It is unacceptable for anyone, any elected official, or their staff, to profit from information that is not available to the public,” said Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the majority leader who led passage of the House version. It was overwhelmingly approved Thursday 417-2.

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