Political Quotes

“I thank Senator Coburn. Let me go back to the first point, but it is not the question he ultimately asked. The Senator is raising a very high standard because I hope nobody is involved in insider trading as a Member of Congress. I presume they are not. There were some serious allegations made last year by people outside Congress against Members of--certain Members of Congress, a small number. They have been denied and responded to by those Members. I presume that if there is any substance to them, the SEC will be investigating and take action. But obviously, necessarily, for dealing with insider trading, we would not know it is going on because they are using nonpublic information privately to secure private profit. So, as the Senator from Oklahoma well knows, the purpose of the law is to make sure that if anybody is doing this--and again, I know the people here, this is an honorable group of people, but if anybody is acting dishonorably--human nature being what it is--and a prosecution is brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, then there won't be any defense that the law doesn't cover Members of Congress. It is simple as that. But let me come to the other point. I know there is a lot of unease amongst some Members about the 30-day requirement in this bill, which is that within 30 days one has to file a disclosure of any trade in a stock or security that a Member has been involved in that has a value of more than $1,000.…”