Reid dodges potential filibuster by abandoning Senate version of STOCK Act

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday sought to overcome a potential filibuster on a motion to create a conference committee for the STOCK Act by abandoning the Senate-passed version of the bill and filing a cloture motion to concur with the House-passed version.

Reid said at least one senator had threatened to force three time-intensive votes that could consume weeks of the upper chamber’s time before the Senate version would be sent to a conference committee. Instead of taking three votes, Reid suggested the Senate could cast a single vote to agree to adopt the House-passed version of the bill.

“It certainly would have been my preference to work out these differences between the two houses through a conference committee, and I know that’s the preference of the Republican leader,” he said. “That’s the usual practice. But we’ve been advised that there would be objection to going to conference by consent.

“I tried it and tried, but we can’t break through that. We need to address this issue more quickly. Because otherwise we don’t address it at all.”

The STOCK Act, which passed both chambers earlier this year after weeks of wrangling, would make clear that it is illegal for members of Congress and their staff to make investments and trades based on non-public information and tighten reporting requirements.

House Democrats and senators in both parties had pushed to establish a conference committee to settle differences between the two bills. In particular, they were keen to try to restore two measures that were added to the bill as amendments by the Senate but trimmed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) before it was brought up on the House floor.

One measure, originally offered by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), would have made it easier for prosecutors to pursue public corruption cases. And a second one proposed by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) would have required “political intelligence” firms, which seek out private information to sell to investors, to register in a fashion similar to lobbyists.

The latter provison proved particularly contentious in the House, as the original sponsors of the legislation, Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), and Tim Walz (D-Minn.) took Cantor to task for trimming it. Even Grassley engaged in some intra-party sniping, saying Cantor’s changes “would fulfill Wall Street’s wishes.”

Cantor defended the move, arguing that the bill produced by the Senate included some problematic and overbroad provisions.

Leahy and Grassley sent a letter to Reid and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) on Monday, requesting a conference committee on the bill, or at least the opportunity to re-introduce their amendments as the Senate considers the House bill.

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