To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Reinstate Congress' partial repeal of STOCK (Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge) Act
Demand that Congress reinstate the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act that was gutted by Congress recently.
Why is this important?
A year ago, President Obama signed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act into law at a celebratory ceremony attended by a bipartisan cast of lawmakers.The law wouldn't just outlaw trading on nonpublic information by members of Congress, the executive branch and their staffs, it would greatly expand financial disclosures and make all of the data searchable so insider trading and conflicts of interest would be easier to detect.
The president signed a bill reversing big pieces of the law and it barely made print media news, There was no fanfare when the Senate and then the House passed the bill in largely empty chambers using a fast-track procedure known as unanimous consent.
In the House, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., shepherded the bill through. It was Friday afternoon at 12:52. Many members had already left for the weekend or were on their way out. The whole process took only 30 seconds. There was no debate.
NPR reported that "There weren't too many members of Congress who were aware of this legislation," says Craig Holman, the government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen. "And I suspect very, very few understood what a sweeping radical change it is to the STOCK Act."
When was the last time Congress acted so quickly and so cooperatively? Stop Congress from insider trading.
The president signed a bill reversing big pieces of the law and it barely made print media news, There was no fanfare when the Senate and then the House passed the bill in largely empty chambers using a fast-track procedure known as unanimous consent.
In the House, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., shepherded the bill through. It was Friday afternoon at 12:52. Many members had already left for the weekend or were on their way out. The whole process took only 30 seconds. There was no debate.
NPR reported that "There weren't too many members of Congress who were aware of this legislation," says Craig Holman, the government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen. "And I suspect very, very few understood what a sweeping radical change it is to the STOCK Act."
When was the last time Congress acted so quickly and so cooperatively? Stop Congress from insider trading.