Political Quotes

“Pending before the Senate is the STOCK Act, and the purpose is one that I support. It is a bill I cosponsored. The notion behind it is that Members of Congress should not use their public service or information gained in their public service for private benefit. It basically outlaws the type of insider trading and conflict of interest that should be a standard and will be a standard after this is enacted into law. Amendments have been proposed to this measure, and there is one in particular I heard about earlier and asked for a copy of. This is an amendment proposed by the Senator from Kentucky, Mr. Paul. It is an amendment which talks about Members of Congress forfeiting their Federal retirement benefits and the conditions under which they would forfeit their Federal retirement benefits. Understand that these are Members of Congress who have completed enough service in the Congress to qualify for a pension. It is my understanding that is about 6 years. So at a minimum of 6 years of service, Members of Congress receive some pension benefit. Certainly those benefits increase the longer they serve. This bill would disqualify them from pensions they have been credited and earned as Members of Congress under three conditions: First, should they decide after they have served in Congress to serve as a registered lobbyist. That in and of itself is breathtaking.…”