Obama Strips Disclosure Provision from Insider Trading Law
President Barack Obama passed legislation that would no longer require Congressional staffers and executive officials to disclose financial information.
The legislation is an amendment to the STOCK (Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge) Act, a bill meant to prevent Congress from profiting from insider trading. The STOCK Act was passed in April last year after it was revealed that some government officials were using their exclusive access to information for personal gain. President Obama said the STOCK Act would “help fight the destructive influence of money in politics and rebuild the trust between Washington and the American people.”
The amendment that requires government officials to disclose financial information, however, has long been contested, and was repealed by Obama on Monday.
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The repeal, which limits the amount of information only the president, vice president, Congressional members and Senate-confirmed presidential appointees must disclose, was first unanimously passed with no debate through the House or Senate late last week.
Other Congressional and executive-branch staff will still be required to disclose information, but the information is only available if requested in person.
The amendment’s unanimous approval is attributed to findings from a study commissioned by Congress after delays in the bill’s passage. The study concluded that financial disclosure could threaten the safety of public officials and make running for office less appealing.
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Flickr photo courtesy of David Paul Ohmer
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