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The measure would also ban bonuses to executives at Fannie and Freddie, while requiring firms that sell information they gather on Capitol Hill to hedge funds to register as lobbyists.
February 2 -
Support for a clearer ban is widespread since a 60 Minutes report suggested lawmakers — including House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus — traded on nonpublic information, but members are still debating the scope of the legislation.
December 6
WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a government ethics bill that omitted key sections of the version passed last week by the Senate, leaving Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to decide whether to fight for the deleted provisions.
The House bill does not include an amendment, sponsored by Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, that would require firms that gather information on Capitol Hill and sell it to hedge funds and other financial firms to register as lobbyists.
Also omitted from the House version is a provision sponsored by Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy that would give prosecutors new tools to investigate and prosecute public officials.
The bill passed the House by a 417-2 vote after Republicans used a procedural tactic that prevented changes to the legislation while requiring a two-thirds majority for passage.
After the bill passed the Senate, it was revised by Majority Leader Eric Cantor, bypassing the House Financial Services Committee, which earlier held a hearing on the measure.
Under both the House and Senate versions of the bill, known as the STOCK Act, members of Congress and certain executive branch employees would be barred from using information gained in the course of their jobs for personal gain.
It is now up to Reid to decide whether to put the House version to a vote in Senate or to call for a conference committee where differences between the two versions could be ironed out.
Reid last week voted against Grassley's amendment, which passed the Senate by a 60-39 margin. Reid's office did not immediately respond to a question about whether he plans to call for a House-Senate conference committee.
Following the release of the House bill, Grassley was sharply critical of the House Republican leadership, and he called for the restoration of language that would establish rules for so-called political intelligence firms.
"It's astonishing and extremely disappointing that the House would fulfill Wall Street's wishes by killing this provision," Grassley said in a press release.
"The Senate clearly voted to try to shed light on an industry that's behind the scenes. If the Senate language is too broad, as opponents say, why not propose a solution instead of scrapping the provision altogether? I hope to see a vehicle for meaningful transparency through a House-Senate conference or other means."
During last month's State of the Union address, President Obama called for the passage of congressional ethics legislation, but did not specify many details. He is expected to sign whatever version of the legislation passes Congress.
