STOCK-ing Up For The Recess

The House has time to not pass jobs, but it does have time for its little feel-good STOCK Act, which of course actually does the opposite of what House Republicans says it does.  And as usual, the devil is in the details that differ from the Senate version which also sailed through last week.

The House on Thursday joined the Senate in overwhelmingly approving a congressional insider-trading ban.

Now the question is whether the two chambers can make a deal — or whether they’ll find a way to stall over details and prevent a bill from reaching President Barack Obama’s desk.

Both measures passed overwhelmingly — 417-2 in the House and 96-3 in the Senate last week — but the bills differ in some respects.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) had released several changes to the STOCK Act earlier this week that broadened the bill’s disclosure requirements and insider-trading ban to the executive branch and ensured that lawmakers convicted of a crime couldn’t collect their pensions.

It also puts in place tougher rules on public officials participating in initial public offerings.

But the bill also scrapped a provision that would have required so-called political intelligence firms to disclose their activities much like lobbyists already do – much to the dismay of Democrats who favored tougher rules on the industry.

Cantor knows how this game works.  He wants to sting Obama, but let the lobbyists continue to be able to play their little games.  Even Chuck Grassley wanted this in, but Cantor dropped his public intelligence amendment like a hot potato.  Hey, Peepaw Chuck, Tea Party doesn't give a damn about FREEDOM and LIBERTY and DON'T TREAD ON ME.  They work for the lobbyists.  All Republicans do.

Whether they want to or not.