Insider-trading bill sponsors keep pressure on leaders

The original sponsors of legislation barring insider trading by members of Congress have vowed to keep pressure on congressional leadership to get the bill across the finish line.

Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) and Tim Walz (D-Minn.) sent a letter to leadership in both the House and Senate Thursday calling for the prompt creation of a conference committee to settle differences between the versions of the bill approved in both chambers.

Both the House and Senate overwhelmingly approved versions of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act earlier this month, and President Obama has vowed to sign a bill as soon as it hits his desk.

But Walz, who taught high-school civics before coming to Congress, said he hasn't forgotten the lessons of "Schoolhouse Rock" and that more work remains to be done.

"The STOCK Act is still just a bill sitting on Capitol Hill," he said. "The pressure to get this done has not let up one inch and we certainly hope our colleagues understand that."

No decision has been made yet on the next step for the bill, but a Senate Democratic aide has said a conference committee is likely.

In particular, the two lawmakers said they are eager for a conference committee to come together so they can push to reinstate provisions pertaining to public corruption and the political intelligence industry.

Those two provisions made it out of the Senate in its version, but were pared down by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) before it hit the House floor. Cantor cited bipartisan concerns with how they might be applied.

The political intelligence provision, which would require those firms that sell private information obtained on Capitol Hill to financial firms to be registered like lobbyists, was added to the Senate bill under an amendment offered by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) was a primary backer of the other, scrapped provision, which would have made it easier for federal prosecutors to pursue public corruption violations.

In particular, Slaughter was incensed when the political intelligence measure was trimmed from the bill, and has made it a priority to get it reinstated in conference.

"We have to include a political intelligence provision in the final version of the STOCK Act or our work is only half done," she said.

Slaughter said she had not spoken with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) about when a conference committee might come together. But she was not worried, saying she had spoken to Grassley and Leahy, who are both also interested in setting up a conference.

"We have every confidence there will be one," she said.

The two lawmakers also announced that they were introducing a separate bill consisting of the two scrapped provisions in a separate bid to make them law.

The pressure to curb questionable financial moves by members of Congress reached a fever pitch this winter after a "60 Minutes" piece suggested that several members might have reaped personal profits by taking advantage of their senior positions on Capitol Hill. 

All the members singled out in the piece, including House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), have defended their actions.

However, one member singled out in the report, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), is now under investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics for potential insider-trading violations. Bachus has said the investigation would provide "full exoneration" of his trading activities.

Walz said it was important to allow that investigation to run its course and that Bachus has the right to due process, but noted that the current state of affairs in Congress made such concerns viable.

"The belief was always that the potential was there for this to happen and that creates a very, very dangerous situation," he said.

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