WASHINGTON – A new law that bans insider trading by lawmakers should help Congress regain the public’s trust, according to Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross.
“Congress has lost the people’s trust and bills like this will help bring accountability and transparency back to government,” said Ross, a Prescott Democrat.
The STOCK (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) Act makes it clear that members of Congress who use nonpublic information to gain an unfair market advantage are breaking the law. It also creates new disclosure, accountability and transparency requirements.
President Barack Obama on Wednesday said he was proud to sign the bill into law saying it is a “good and necessary thing.”
“We were sent here to serve the American people and look out for their interests – not to look out for our own interests,” Obama said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The law comes at a time when public opinion of Congress is in the tank. The approval rating has been 15 percent or below since August and hit an all-time low of 10 percent in February, according to Gallup.
“The STOCK Act demonstrates just how effective bipartisanship and public support can be in getting an important piece of legislation quickly passed in Congress,” Ross said. “In the future, I hope Democrats and Republicans will keep working together in a constructive way — just as they did on this bill — to reform Congress, tackle our deficits and debt, create jobs and get this economy back on track.”
The STOCK Act was first introduced in Congress in 2006 but drew little attention or support until a CBS News “60 Minutes” report last November claimed lawmakers from both parties were profiting from insider information.
The bill had less than a dozen backers in the House before the “60 Minutes” program aired but that number swelled to 287 afterward. Ross signed on as a co-sponsor and Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Little Rock, signed on as co-sponsors in early December.
The Democratic Blue Dog Coalition endorsed the legislation in February. Ross is co-chairman for communications of the caucus.
Craig Holman, Public Citizen’s government affairs lobbyist, said the legislation is “the most significant ethics achievement” of the 112th Congress but tempered that praise with a caveat saying it could have been stronger.
Holman also threw a wet blanket on the bipartisan backslapping.
“Congress passed it only because they were shamed into it. Still, it is a good step,” he said.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Executive Director Melanie Sloan said that requiring Congress members to report their stock trades is likely to deter them from trading on confidential information but doubted that it would result in many prosecutions.
“Now members of Congress will go home and claim credit for passing a tough new ethics bill. The likelihood this legislation will result in a member of Congress being prosecuted for insider trading? Minimal. The likelihood negative campaign ads have been averted? High,” Sloan said.
Obama also said that more work was needed “to close the deficit of trust.”
“We should limit any elected official from owning stocks in industries that they have the power to impact. We should make sure people who bundle campaign contributions for Congress can’t lobby Congress, and vice versa. These are ideas that should garner bipartisan support. They certainly have wide support outside of Washington. And it’s my hope that we can build off today’s bipartisan effort to get them done,” Obama said.