Posted on 01/25/2012 1:06:49 AM PST by Jerome Hudson
In a State of the Union speech devoid of clarity or specifics, President Barack Obama offered but one shining exception: a direct call for members of Congress to send him a bill to ban congressional insider trading.
(Excerpt) Read more at biggovernment.com ...
“Send me a bill that bans insider trading by members of Congress and I will sign it tomorrow,” President Obama said to applause. “Let’s limit any elected official from owning stock in industries they impact.”
Since the release of “Throw Them All Out,” Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer has been a one-man battalion fighting for members of Congress to abide by the same insider trading laws that apply to all Americans. President Obama’s speech Tuesday night is evidence that Schweizer’s battle against congressional insider trading and cronyism has scored a critical victory.
“It appears that our message has finally broken through,” said Schweizer in an interview Tuesday night with Breitbart News. “Thousands of citizens across America have called and written their representatives and the White House demanding a ban on congressional insider trading.
The President’s speech tonight is proof that their efforts were not in vain. Now is the time to apply maximum pressure and get behind Rep. Sean Duffy’s (R-WI) RESTRICT Act. It’s the best proposal I’ve seen to date.”
The RESTRICT (Restoring Ethical Standards, Transparency, and Responsibility in Congressional Trading) Act (H.R. 3550) would require members of Congress to either establish blind trusts or submit to a three day public disclosure of any and all investments. According to Schweizer, the bill is preferable to other bills, such as the STOCK (Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge) Act, which Schweizer believes do not go far enough to remedy the problem.
Since November, Peter Schweizer and Breitbart News have published numerous articles detailing bipartisan instances of congressional insider trading that have included Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), all of which were featured in a special report by 60 Minutes.
“There’s still much work to be done,” said Schweizer. “We need to get behind Rep. Duffy’s RESTRICT Act and let our leaders know that we will not stand idly by as members of Congress profit off of access to material, nonpublic information.”
wow, big wup. This brought to you by the most narcissistic President and his money-grubbing wife
This man-child is delusional.
Wow, I’ve always been told by the libs “you can’t legislate morality”. Will this work?
Sounds like pillow talk to me. The corrupt will simply perform these trades in their wives or family members names. You cannot legislate the corrupt... I mean, who will write this bill? The corrupt. Down South we call this the fox guarding the hen house. If you honestly think they will write themselves a bill cutting off the gravy train, we are all just lost. I do not buy it one second. Term limits would work, somewhat. These are the same folks who vote themselves raises. Who does that on someone else’s dime?
This only works when you have honest people involved, as with any law. Seems the congresscritters go to DC to feather their own nest and our country is last in their to-do list.
Big Gov & Andrew Breitbart deserve a lot of credit for getting the biggest inside trader, BHO to admit it is wrong for politicians to break the law is Major Coup! BG is doing the job that other media fails to do.
Might not be insider trading, but still unethical.
The Democrat will just ignore a law like every other law they ignore.
And a hat tip to Sarah Palin as well, she was all over this as part of the Crony capitalism argument..and the author is part of her advisory committee.
And to those in the media and in government that think she doesn’t have influence...pffft.
Go Sean Duffy, don’t let this get watered down by Reid and company.
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