FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. A bill that would ban members of Congress and their staffs from buying or selling securities, swaps or commodity futures based on nonpublic information they obtain through work in Congress passed Thursday.
The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act was co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jim Himes of Fairfield County. It passed with strong bipartisan support by a vote of 417-2.
The STOCK Act closes an inexcusable gap in the law to ensure that members of Congress play by the same rules as every other American. It will finally put a law on the books to end the practice of insider trading on knowledge gained from work in Congress, said Himes. He urged the House and Senate to come to a rapid conference agreement and said he expects President Barack Obama to quickly sign the bill into law.
Click here to watch a statement Himes made on the House floor earlier this month urging his colleagues to bring the bill up for a vote.
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