Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I thank both the Senator from Pennsylvania and the Senator from Maine. Amendments Nos. 1478 and 1481 I will speak in more detail about my amendments later, but now I want to say a few words about each of them. First, they are consistent with the spirit of the underlying bill--a version of which I cosponsored. I am particularly appreciative to Senator Gillibrand for her good work on this overall issue. The underlying STOCK Act clarifies that insider trading laws apply the same way to Members of Congress as they do to the rest of the country, pure and simple. It makes sense. My amendments would also extend generally applicable laws to Members of Congress. One amendment would apply financial trade disclosure rules to Members in the same way they apply to others, such as corporate insiders, financial advisers, SEC employees. It would narrow the window for disclosure from 30 days down to 10 days. It would make Member disclosure more consistent with rules that require timely disclosure of transactions by corporate directors, officers, and large shareholders. We should do the same more strictly than we have in the past to do the same as they do. Let's hold ourselves to the same standard of openness and shine the light of transparency on our financial trades, if we make them. The second amendment would extend to Senators the same conflict of interest rules that currently apply to committee staff and executive branch officials. This amendment, which is No.…”