WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-28), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee and an author of the original STOCK Act, today reacted to news that a version of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act as the House-passed bill is expected to receive a vote in the Senate.
Since the House and Senate both overwhelmingly passed versions of the STOCK Act more than a month ago, the bill has been waiting to move forward despite overwhelming public pressure, media attention and a call for legislation to end insider trading by the President in his January State of the Union address.
“For six years I’ve been saying that the practice of insider trading in Congress needs to end and for a vast majority of that time, that was a very lonely fight,” said Slaughter, a co-author of the bill first introduced in 2006. “It’s no secret that the bill passed by the House is not as strong as the legislation that I wrote. I believe we need to hold the $402 million a year political intelligence industry accountable by requiring those profiting so handsomely from it to register the same way as lobbyists. I am anxiously awaiting to see what the Senate is able to do.”
