Yesterday, Sen. Joseph Lieberman said he “doesn’t have any evidence of insider trading by members of Congress.”
Nevertheless, said Lieberman, the 60 Minutes report and the book by Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer have left his constituents with the impression that members of Congress are engaged in insider trading.
Despite seeing no evidence of congressional insider trading, Sen. Lieberman said it’s still important to have a bill clarifying that members of Congress are covered by the same insider trading laws that apply to all citizens.
Lieberman said a compromise has been struck between the versions of the STOCK (Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge) Act offered by Sens. Scott Brown and Kirsten Gillibrand and that they will bring the bill to a markup today and then report the bill to the Senate floor.
UCLA Law Professor Stephen Bainbridge, who had been critical of Sen. Gillibrand’s earlier version of the bill, says that her latest version is much-improved and is “simple, effective, comprehensive, and workable.”
“Now we just have to get it past roadblocks like House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and the rest of the business as usual gang,” says Prof. Bainbridge.