Obama backs insider-trading ban

President Obama “strongly supports” legislation making clear lawmakers cannot personally profit off private information obtained within the halls of Congress, the White House said Monday. 

The Senate is set to take a procedural vote on such legislation, known as the Stock Act, on Monday evening.

{mosads}The White House announcement came in a state of administration policy released just hours before the Senate’s planned vote. It made it clear that Obama wants Congress to approve the legislation, which would prohibit members from trading in private information for profit, and from offering such information to others seeking personal profit.

“It will help to limit the corrosive influence of money in politics and ensure that the Congress is playing by the same set of rules as everyone else,” the White House said in the statement. “It is critical that the Congress take steps to restore the American people’s trust in Washington.”

The president called on lawmakers to pass such legislation during his annual State of the Union address earlier this month, and received a standing ovation from Congress in doing so.

While members of Congress are not exempt from existing insider-trading laws, no member has ever been prosecuted under them. After a “60 Minutes” piece suggested that several top lawmakers made financial decisions based on private information learned in Congress, members were eager to enact a law explicitly banning the practice.

A House version of the bill is expected to be advanced by Republican leadership sometime by the end of February. 

By acting quickly, however, Senate Democrats and the White House likely hope they can secure at least a brief political advantage on the issue.