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A Great Day in the Senate, and for CREW

By Jeremy Miller

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) heartily congratulates the U.S. Senate for passing the STOCK Act, legislation that will finally make explicitly clear members of Congress and congressional staff are not exempt from insider trading laws. 

As an added bonus, the STOCK Act – passed on a nearly unanimous vote last night - goes well beyond congressional insider trading to embrace two key anti-corruption provisions CREW has been pushing for the past two years.  

First, the STOCK Act incorporates the “Public Corruption Prosecution Improvements Act,” bipartisan legislation sponsored by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and John Cornyn (R-TX), which will give law enforcement officials the tools they need to detect and prosecute public corruption.  This amendment responds in part to last year’s Supreme Court decision in Skilling v. United States, which cut back the scope of the Honest Services fraud statute, frequently used by prosecutors to target self-dealing.  It also amends the illegal gratuities statute to prevent public officials from accepting gifts given because of their governmental positions and makes clear public officials who accept private compensation may be subject to prosecution. 

In addition, the Senate-passed STOCK Act incorporates the “Congressional Integrity and Pension Forfeiture” amendment.  This critical amendment, sponsored by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), would ensure that, going forward, no present or former Member of Congress convicted of a public corruption felony while serving in elected office – regardless of when it was committed – will receive federal pension benefits.  It adds 22 new public corruption offenses to a law that revokes congressional pensions for convicted lawmakers.  Importantly, it also ensures that former Members of Congress will forfeit their pensions if convicted of committing public corruption crimes while serving in any other elected office.

It has been a long time since we have seen the Senate act in such a democratic and bipartisan manner.  Last night was proof, even if it is an election year, this body can act in a collegial manner worthy of the institution the founding fathers envisioned.

Now… onto the House of Representatives.  House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said the House would review the Senate bill, adding he intended to bring it to the floor next week.  This is surprisingly good news given Cantor’s reported refusal to allow the bill to see committee markup last December.  We are not out of the woods yet, however.  Will the Majority Leader take the Senate version of the STOCK Act up as-is or will he allow amendments in some way?  If there are amendments, what do they look like and what happens to the bill if it goes to conference committee? 

Regardless, the U.S. Senate took a good first step in demonstrating that they hear our concerns and are here to serve the public interest, not their own personal financial interests.  Make your voice heard.