Senate backs conflict-of-interest rules
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WASHINGTON -- In a sign of just how unpopular Congress has become, rank-and-file senators hijacked debate over a narrowly tailored ethics bill and won broad approval Thursday for a more sweeping reform package imposing new conflict-of-interest rules and mandating more transparency on K Street.
From conservative back-bench Republicans to liberal junior Democrats, senators launched an ethical arms race of amendments by offering far-reaching reforms that were not even considered when Congress last rewrote its ethics rules five years ago.
"This is mass repentance for past sins," Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who managed the floor debate, said half-jokingly as he left the Capitol on Wednesday night.
Senate leaders, who had hoped to quickly approve a modest provision formally outlawing equity insider trading by lawmakers and staff, instead navigated a mine field of reform offerings that went far beyond the relatively simplistic underlying legislation. Rather than just forbidding lawmakers and staff from trading on private information they learned because of their positions, the legislation extended restrictions into the executive branch and Washington's consulting class on a 96-3 vote.
During an afternoon of rapid-fire votes Thursday, the Senate extended the insider-trading restrictions to senior executive branch members. The legislation now requires lawmakers and senior executive branch officials, for the first time, to reveal all mortgage information about their primary residence.
On a unanimous voice vote, the Senate approved a ban on bonuses to senior Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives, following reports that the two mortgage giants had approved nearly $13 million in bonuses to 10 executives.
In addition, members of the so-called political-intelligence industry -- insiders who try to learn legislative outcomes in advance for hedge fund and investment house clients, who then place their stock bets based on that information --would now be required to disclose their activities, just as lobbyists trying to influence the outcome must.
The House, which has a more narrowly crafted insider trading bill, expects to consider its version of the legislation later this month.
But while the more expansive legislation passed, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., sidestepped some of the most far-reaching reforms ever offered in Congress.
First Published February 3, 2012 12:00 am
