Obama Signs Ban on Insider Trading by Lawmakers
Description
President Barack Obama has signed legislation barring members of Congress, the president and thousands of federal workers from insider trading and profiting from nonpublic information learned on the job. (April 4)
Transcript
[Notes:April 4, 2012][Notes:Pool][Notes:Washington]SOT: In my State of the Union I asked members of the House and Senate to send me a bill that bans insider training by members of Congress and I said I would sign it right away. Well, today I am happy to say legislators from both parties have come together to do just that. The stock act makes it clear that if members of Congress use nonpublic information to gain an unfair advantage in the market then they are breaking the law. It creates new disclosure requirements and new measures of accountability and transparency for thousands of federal employees. That is a good and necessary thing.The new law lets the public see more of government officials' financial dealings. Lawmakers abandoned an earlier proposal to require public reports from people who gather information from Congress and sell it, mostly to investors.The driving force behind the bill was Congress' attempt to boost dismal approval ratings, with polls showing between 12 percent and 19 percent of Americans approve the job Congress is doing.(****END****) ANCHOR VOICE: -------------------------VIDEO PRODUCER: ---------------------------VIDEO SOURCE: Pool-----------------------VIDEO APPROVAL: ----------------------------VIDEO RESTRICTIONS: ----------------------------------MARKET EMBARGO (S): --------------------------------SCRIPT/WIRE SOURCE:------------------------------------