Lawmakers introduce bill to prohibit insider trading on Capitol Hill

Two House Democrats are pushing legislation that would prohibit lawmakers and federal employees from profiting from non-public information they obtain in their jobs official positions while requiring greater oversight. 

Reps. Louise Slaughter (N.Y.), ranking member of the House Rules Committee, and Tim Walz (Minn.) introduced legislation that would hold lawmakers and their staffs legally accountable for making personal investment decisions based the information they use to do their jobs.

"This is a matter of equality under the law,” Walz said. "The same standards we have established for Wall Street should apply to Congress. The potential for abuse is obvious and troubling and there is simply no good reason Congress should get to play by a separate set of rules in the stock market.”

The measure also would provide for greater oversight of the growing “political intelligence” industry.

"Even more troubling is that unregistered firms might be using Congressional non-public information to make financial transactions at the expense of the average investor," Slaughter said in a statement. "This bill places those individuals under insider trading rules and enhanced disclosure rules."

The legislation has support from groups such as Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Common Cause, Democracy 21, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG, according to a statement.

In a letter to the lawmakers, the organizations said, “This measure provides a balanced application of the laws against insider trading to both the private and public sectors and offers the important tool of disclosure for ensuring compliance with the law. The STOCK Act should be adopted by Congress before new scandals arise.”

The original version of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK) was introduced in 2006.