No Insider Trading for Congress: Will Bill Put Kibosh On So Called ''Political Intelligence''?

12/17/11

In a move that's a bit of a head scratcher, in recent days a bill prohibiting “members of Congress and their employees from using nonpublic information to enrich themselves” was approved by a Senate committee, per the December 14th washingtonpost.com article, “Senate committee advances bill to prevent insider trading by members of Congress”.


Essentially, the bill forbids financial trades from being made that are based on “private, material information obtained in the course of their public service”, and targets the up and coming industry of so called “political intelligence.” According to the December 14th thehill.com article, “Bill banning insider trading advances in Senate over GOP opposition”. These firms basically attempt to obtain inside information from both lawmakers and staff and give it to private clients for their use.

Sorry, that's not political, or intelligent. Let's call a spade a spade, shall we? It's theft, pure and simple. That being said, the committee's order for a one-year congressional study on said firms appears to be yet another head scratcher.

Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. each sponsored a bill so as to make certain that federal law forbidding this practice was applicable to Congress. Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn then made the two bills into one piece of legislation.

Brown was quoted as saying in the washingtonpost.com article: “Members of Congress need to live by the same rules as everyone else, and it must be clear that public service can never be abused for private gain. With the approval of Congress at an all-time low, the full Senate now has the opportunity to pass this bill and begin rebuilding its reputation with the American people.”

That's all well and good, but if we have to pass legislation to ensure that the folks supposedly representing the interests of the American people aren't lying, cheating and stealing to get ahead, perhaps we're missing the forest for the trees.

A November CBS 60 Minutes report identified Congressional members who may have profited from information learned during the course of their jobs, and said report seemingly fueled the passage of the insider trading bill. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), and certain profitable trades that he made at the peak of the financial crisis were singled out in the report, which he denied adamantly.

Though the legislation passed easily, GOP Sens. Tom Coburn (Okla.) and Ron Johnson (Wis.) dissented, saying the bill was “unnecessary and rife with potential unintended consequences,” per thehill.com article.
Coburn was quoted as saying in thehill.com article: “We're in a rush to prove to the American public that we're not guilty. We shouldn't be in a super hurry to fix it because it solves a political problem for us.”

However, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), and the committee's ranking member, disagreed, and was said: “We need to send a strong message making absolutely clear that members of Congress and their staff are not exempt. The simpler and more direct we can be, the better.”

In the washingtonpost.com article Gillibrand was quoted saying: “This is not a Democratic or Republican idea. It is a common sense idea gaining momentum every day with bipartisan support.”

The operative words being ‘common sense.' Hear, hear.