Slaughter worries as STOCK Act loses steam

By Peter Schroeder - 03/06/12 06:46 PM ET

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) is worried that her legislation curbing insider trading may be losing steam and that a weaker version of the bill could become law.

The original backer of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act wrote to House and Senate leaders Tuesday, begging them to establish a conference committee where backers of provisions trimmed from the existing bill have a "fair chance" to protect them.

Slaughter's plea came amidst reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was mulling just taking up the House version of the bill. She said there was "growing concern" among backers of the bill that legislation had screeched to a halt, and that it is a "foregone conclusion" that the weaker House version of the bill would move forward.

"I urge you in the strongest possible terms to convene a conference committee and look forward to working with you to pass the STOCK Act into law," she wrote.

Following reports suggesting members of Congress were using private information obtained in their work to personally profit, both chambers were eager to pass the STOCK Act in a bid to clear their names with the American people. President Obama joined the push in his State of the Union address, calling on Congress to send him the bill. Both chambers did pass the measure overwhelmingly, but differed on two key provisions, which were stripped out of the Senate-passed measure by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

One provision would require so-called "political intelligence" firms that seek out private congressional information to sell to financial traders to register in a similar way to lobbyists, while another would have made it easier for prosecutors to pursue public corruption. Slaughter in particular has loudly called for the return of the political intelligence provision, which Cantor had criticized as having overbroad language.

Since the House passed the measure at the beginning of February, the bill has not moved an inch. Slaughter and other backers of the original measure, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have called for a conference committee to be established, but there has been no action on that front. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has also backed a conference committee, as he proposed the Senate amendment including the political intelligence provision originally. Reid voted against it.