Members of Congress know their institution is wildly unpopular. One, Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, even took to the Senate floor recently with a chart of poll results suggesting that Americans think less of Congress than of communism. (He wasn’t promoting the latter.)
Amazingly, the people’s elected representatives and senators seem oblivious to some of the reasons for such disdain — reasons that are glaringly obvious to their constituents.
One was highlighted Sunday on CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” which featured former U.S. Rep. Brian Baird and his long, unsuccessful effort to ban insider trading by members of Congress.
Baird, a Democrat who represented southwest Washington for six terms, decided not to run again last year. (He now lives in Edmonds.) Among the frustrations he encountered was an abject lack of willingness by Congress to force simple, sensible ethics rules on itself regarding nonpublic information members could use to get rich.
That’s right, no law currently prevents members of Congress from taking information they receive in the course of their duties, or knowledge of pending legislation likely to affect the price of particular stocks, and cashing in on it before the public knows about it.
Four times, Baird introduced legislation that would have banned such practices. Never did it even get a hearing.
And if anything, “60 Minutes” reported, things have gotten worse. A new industry known as “political intelligence” has taken root in the Capitol, in which former members of Congress and former staffers are hired to keep an ear to the ground and sell information to Wall Street traders, who can then profit from it before anyone else is the wiser. It’s clearly wrong, but it’s legal.
This isn’t the only reason Congress’ approval rating has plummeted to 13 percent in recent months. The political paralysis that’s fueling ever more economic uncertainty also has Americans plenty disgusted.
But its refusal to live by the same rules against insider trading as other Americans is emblematic of the arrogance and entitlement that has so eroded the nation’s faith in Congress.
Perhaps realizing that, an updated version of Baird’s STOCK Act (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) had 19 co-sponsors as of Tuesday, the Columbian newspaper reported. Eleven of them signed on Monday, after the “60 Minutes” broadcast. Damage control can be a powerful impulse.
We urge all members of Washington’s congressional delegation to sign on, and make a point of getting such legislation approved. They shouldn’t be above the basic laws the people they represent must follow.
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