STOCK Act stampede

In a welcome break from partisan gridlock, congressmen have rushed to embrace a bill that would ban them from trading stocks based on insider information.

The vote to take up the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act was 93-2 in the Senate. More than 250 congressmen, including 90 Republicans, are co-sponsoring a similar bill in the House.

The bills aims to prevent congressmen from making financial transactions based on "nonpublic information" they may have gleaned through government contacts.

A "60 Minutes" report last fall focused on Rep. Spencer Bachus, who after a secret briefing about the impending financial meltdown in 2008, allegedly bought stock options that would appreciate in value if stock prices dropped. Bachus, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has denied the charges.

The report also claimed that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi profited from insider information about an initial public offering for Visa in 2008. She too has denied any wrongdoing.

Jack Abramoff, the disgraced Washington lobbyist, told CNBC that as many as a dozen members of Congress had bragged to him about how much money they made from insider trading.

In addition to eliminating the ambiguity over whether federal securities law applies to congressmen, the Senate bill would also require members to disclose the purchase or sale of stocks, bonds, commodities and other securities within 30 days of the transactions. The information would be posted on the Web in a searchable format.

The bill, however, does not limit congressmen from owning stocks in industries they affect, a provision President Obama mentioned in his State of the Union address.

The congressional stampede to embrace the STOCK Act smacks of feel-good politics. Yet the measure is worthwhile although it won't go far to enhance the public's harsh perception of Congress.