WASHINGTON — Sagging approval ratings brought Democrats and Republicans together Thursday, as the Senate passed a bill to explicitly prevent members of Congress, their top aides and administration officials from using nonpublic information for insider trading.
New disclosure requirements will require public reports online within 30 days of buying and selling stock.
The 96-3 vote sent the bill to the House, where Majority Leader Eric Cantor said the legislation would be considered next week.
Senators in both parties acknowledged the purpose of the legislation was to help dig members of Congress out from poll approval ratings that have fallen to the teens after a year of excessive partisanship.
“When polls show low public confidence in Congress, there is a strong desire to address the concerns that underpin the public’s skepticism,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, one of the bill’s managers.
President Barack Obama praised the Senate and said he is ready to sign a bill known as the STOCK Act, which stands for Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge.
“No one should be able to trade stocks based on nonpublic information gleaned on Capitol Hill,” he said.
Obama said still more ethics restrictions were needed, “like prohibiting elected officials from owning stocks in industries they impact.”
Several amendments were added to the bill before final passage.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., won an amendment to include the 28,000 government workers in the executive branch in the bill, saying it would create a level playing field with the requirements for Congress. But the same amendment included conflicting language by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., that would apply to only 2,000 top policymakers — including the president, vice president and members of the Federal Reserve Board.
A House-Senate conference will have to reconcile the two versions.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, successfully added language that would require “political intelligence” operatives to register and disclose affiliations, the same as lobbyists. These individuals are hired by stock traders to obtain useful information from members of Congress and their staffs.
Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate’s ethics committee, and senior committee Republican Johnny Isakson of Georgia, won an amendment that would force disclosure of all residential mortgages — by members of Congress, the president, the vice president and most Senate-confirmed appointees. Currently senators are not required to list all mortgages.
To a large extent, Congress is reacting to a segment on CBS’s “60 Minutes” that raised questions about stock trades by House Speaker John Boehner, the husband of House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., chairman of the Financial Services Committee. All have denied wrongdoing.
