CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS – CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS
Corrected Feb. 8, 2012 – 8:50 p.m.
House GOP Considers Rolling Back Some Provisions in Insider-Trading Bill
By Richard E. Cohen, CQ Staff
House Republican leaders working on an alternative to the Senate-passed insider-trading measure may scale back or remove a provision intended to restore criminal penalties in some public corruption cases.
Some House Republicans say the provision backed by Senate Judiciary Chairman
And that is not the only concern about the language. “That provision may limit individuals’ First Amendment rights,” said
Carter said Republican leaders reviewed the scope of the bill during a closed-door meeting late Monday, “but we didn’t get into specifics.”
House Republicans will caucus Tuesday to discuss the legislation.
Majority Leader
The single amendment also would include corrections for more than a dozen drafting errors in the Senate bill, as well as clarifications of other “ambiguities.”
The proposed amendment will need to be prepared prior to an expected meeting of the Rules Committee on Feb. 8.
Cantor is likely to propose expanding the bill’s disclosure requirements to cover executive branch employees beyond some in the senior executive service and officials subject to Senate confirmation. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman
House GOP leaders also plan to expand the bill’s insider-trading prohibition to include acting on confidential information about initial public offerings of stock, according to a Republican aide. That change would be designed to call attention to an investment by House Minority Leader
Pelosi, who has denied any impropriety, has joined other House Democrats in backing the Senate bill’s effort to tighten insider-trading rules. The Democrats initially backed a measure (
Pelosi and Slaughter told reporters Feb. 3 that they were willing to support either the Senate version or Slaughter’s bill. But a House Democratic leadership aide said Monday that Democrats “are worried that Cantor is not acting in good faith” and that Democrats will wait to see whether the majority adds a poison pill to the legislation.
House GOP Considers Rolling Back Some Provisions in Insider-Trading Bill
Supreme Court Ruling Prompts Bills
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Leahy’s bill (
The court partially struck down the convictions of Jeffrey Skilling, the former Enron chief executive officer, for “honest services fraud.” In an opinion written by Justice
Before the Senate adopted Leahy’s bill as an amendment to the insider-trading measure, the chairman told his colleagues the provision was necessary because “the stain of corruption has spread to all levels of government, and that victimizes every American by chipping away at the foundations of our democracy.” The Justice Department backs the Leahy provision.
House GOP leaders have not decided how far to go in addressing concerns about the Leahy provision and could seek a middle ground.
But Rep.
First posted Feb. 6, 2012 9:16 p.m.
Correction
Corrects to say that the Senate-adopted amendment by Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., was intended to help prosecutors pursue anti-corruption cases against self-dealing by public, not corporate, officials.