Here’s one that might have snuck by me had it not been for my noticing an article earlier today. Apparently, Congress has decided that they like insider trading a lot more than they like earning your trust.
See you might remember in 2011, when Congressional insider trading hit the proverbial fan. National interest reached it’s height when Barack Obama called for new legislation governing Congressional insider trading in his 2012 State of the Union address. About two months later, he got it in the form of what came to be known as the “Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge” Act, or the “Stock Act” for short. The bill famously passed easily through both the House (417-2) and the Senate (96-3) and might be one of the only pieces of legislation both houses have agreed to since Obama took office. Until this past April, when they all agreed just as whole-heartedly that those whole pesky financial disclosures were just too darn hard and that most federal workers shouldn’t have to do them. (You can read the text of the revisions to the bill HERE.)
The repeal of most of the law championed as a symbol of legislators buying back the public’s trust last year, was repealed without any real debate earlier this year, taking a grand total of 24 seconds of floor time between both the House and Senate. You might also notice the repeal received almost no national coverage, having happened in April of this year and personally I just heard about it today. Granted I don’t live at the House of Representatives like some reporters, but I am a guy that keeps up with this sort of thing. But Congress managed to keep this one very quiet.
Until now. Write your Congressional representative and Senator and tell them whether or not you think financial disclosures are an important part of insider trading legislation. After all, these aren’t people that respect the law, they exempt themselves from their own laws. Hold them accountable for their actions on this one.
HERE is a directory of contact information for Senators
HERE is a directory of contact information for Members of Congress
HERE is a page to find out who your representative in Congress is.