STOCK Act sponsor welcomes Cantor’s ‘newfound willingness’ to push bill

{mosads}Cantor told CBS’s “60 Minutes” that he wanted to advance and “build on” the bill in 2012, by expanding it to ban not just stock trades but things like real estate deals as well.

Slaughter’s bill exploded in popularity after that same TV program aired a report that suggested several high-ranking lawmakers may have reaped personal profits thanks to their positions in government. The bill currently has 239 co-sponsors, a majority of the House.

“I appreciate Mr. Cantor’s newfound willingness to take up the STOCK Act because he now seems to understand that the American people are outraged that insider trading and the unregulated collection of political intelligence are allowed in the Halls of Congress,” Slaughter said.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), who was singled out in the original report, originally wanted to fast-track the legislation. He announced his committee would vote on the bill shortly after a hearing on it in the days following the report.

However, that fast track was derailed by Cantor amidst concerns that the bill was moving too quickly and members were not being given enough time to consider it.

Meanwhile, similar legislation in the Senate has already cleared the committee level, as members of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee easily cleared a similar bill last week.

Lawmakers are not exempted from existing insider trading laws, but there is a lack of legal precedent on members using information obtained during the legislative process to make financial trades, driving the push by some to craft an explicit ban on the practice.