thanks for allowing me to be with you and i hope we have time

under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. levin: mr. president, the lifeblood of our democratic government is the contract between the people and their elected representatives, a contract that must be based on trust that elected officials will act for the good of our nation and in the interests of their constituents and not for personal gain.

to ensure that we maintain that trust, our nation has laws and our congress has rules. they establish clearly the responsibilities of government officials, members of congress and their staffs and provide for the enforcement of violations. the legislation before us is, in a way, preventive maintenance to protect that trust. it is a tightening up of our legal and ethical guidelines as part of what must be a constant effort to assure that the interests of our nation and our constituents come first. our constituents confidence that members of congress and our staffs will not use our positi positions for our personal financial benefit. now, there should be no doubt that regardless of our action on this stock legislation, the stock act, it is a violation of trust that our constituents

place in us, a violation of the democratic process, a violation of the securities laws, and a violation of congressional ethics rules if members of congress or their employees engage in insider trading, the use of information not available to the public, to make investment decisions. insider trading is and will remain prohibited for members of this body to seek private profit through their public responsibilities, no matter what the fate of this bill. but questions have been raised by insider trading by members of congress. the legislation before us today is designed to ensure that those questions are answered. it removes any doubt that insider trading by members and employees of congress is against the law and against congressional rules. it's important to remove that doubt because any appearance of a breach in trust between congress and our constituents is so corrosive to honest, open and

effective government. back in december, the homeland security and governmental affairs committee held extensive discussions on the need to preserve that trust, including a very productive hearing on december 1. later in december, the committee held a markup and approved the "stop trading on congressional knowledge act," or the stock a act. i want to commend our chairman, senator lieberman, our ranking member, senator collins, for their leadership and the many members of the committee, democratic and republican, who made contributions to that process. two things became clear during our hearings and our markup. the first is that there was consensus that we should remove any uncertainty about the prohibition against insider trading. the second -- the second thing that became clear was that there was a significant bipartisan desire to avoid any unintended

consequences as we sought to remove any uncertainty. we reported out the legislation because of widespread agreement on our goals but there remained concerns about the means. and it was understood that we would attempt to address those concerns before this bill came to the floor. and so a number of us have worked in the weeks since to make sure that our goals and our means are in concert. the revised legislation which will be before us meets that objective. it should remove any uncertainty over the prohibition of insider trading and it avoids unintended harmful consequences that concern some of us. and i point to two provisions that i believe are important in achieving those goals. first reassures the american people that there are no barriers to prosecuting members and employees of congress for insider trading. it does so through language establishing that members and employees of congress have a

duty arising from -- quote -- "a relationship of trust and confidence" with the congress, the government and, most importantly, with the american people. establishing such a duty removes any doubt as to whether insider trading prohibitions apply to congress. it is also important that the bill's language makes clear that in offering this new language, it does not in any way prevent enforcement of the antiinsider trading -- anti-insider trading provisions contained in current law. and again i'm confident that under current law, members of congress and our staffs are prohibited from insider trading. this bill will ensure that the current prohibition is unambiguous and thereby strengthened. the second major provision of the legislation instructs the ethics committees of both chambers to issue clear guidance to members and staffs on the prohibition and profiting from inside information. this guidance will clarify that existing rules in both chambers

relative to gifts and conflicts of interest also prohibit the use of nonpublic information gained in the conduct of official duties for private profit. finally, one other provision let me briefly mention unrelated to insider trading but nonetheless an important step forward in terms of gaining the confidence of our constituents. as one of the originators of the lobbying disclosure act of 1995, i'm well aware of the value of transparency in government. the bill before us improves congressional transparency by requiring that personal financial disclosure filings required of members and certain staff are made available electronically to the public. i want to commend senators beg pitch and tester -- senators begich and tester for offering legislation that improves that transparency of government. mr. president, it's important that we pass this legislation, that we clarify, strengthen our rules and our laws, and end any

uncertainty about insider trading by members of congress and i hope we can promptly pass this legislation. again, i commend our chairman, ranking member, all the members of our committee for the work that they put into this bill. the presiding officer: morning business is now closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 2038, which the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to the consideration of s. 2038, a bill to prohibit members of congress from using nonpublic information derived from their official positions for personal benefit and for other purposes. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the time until 5:30 p.m. will be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. mr. lieberman: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. lieberman: i thank the chair. i would like to ask unanimous consent that a presidential management fellow on detail to

our committee be granted privileges of the floor for the duration of the debate on s. 2038. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lieberman: i would like to begin debate and i do so with gratitude that both the distinguished ranking member, senator collins, is here and senator brown of massachusetts, whose original legislation along with senator gillibrand's, forms the basis of this proposal that comes out of our committee. mr. president, i am going to go back to the beginning to president washington whose farewell address seems to take more relevance as time goes by, though it's obviously more than 200 years old now. washington said in that farewell address that i quote, "that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government and that we cannot look with indifference at anything that shakes the foundation or," if i -- well, continuing his metaphor, "dries the spring."

i think we have to say this in the long, proud course of american mother since then there have been very few times where the springs of trust in popular government have been more dry than they are in our time. i'm grateful that my colleague, senator mccain, is not on the floor now because when we get to this subject, he usually says that when you look at the public opinion polls on congress, the numbers of people who have a favorable impression of this body are so low that we're down to close relatives and paid staff. and usually when i'm with him, i add, i'm not so sure about all the paid stavment bu staff. but, in any case, we have an opportunity here with this piece of legislation to take a small step forward toward rebuilding

public trust in congress, and if i can, to restoring those necessary springs of popular government, the trust of the people in us. this goes back just to last fall and early winter. a book appeared by an author called peter schwiezer who made allegations that some members of congress and their staffs have used information gained on their jobs to enrich themselves with timely investments, particularly in the stock market. those allegations, as washington might have said, certainly dried the springs of trust that we should have with the american people, even more than they already are. so, mr. president, today i'm proud to rise to bring before the senate the stock act, which stands for "stop trading on congressional knowledge" act of

2012. this piece of legislation puts into law language and reporting requirements that will make clear to the american people that we understand that being a member of congress means that we have a responsibility to the public, a public trust, and that any member of congress or staff member here who violates that trust will be punished. this bill was reported as an original bill out of the committee on homeland security affairs on december 13 with a bipartisan vote of 7-2. in advancing this bill, as i've said, senator collins and i worked closely with senators gillibrand and brown, both of whom sponsored versions of the stock act and senator levin who has just spoken, who worked closely with us on the substitute amendment that is being filed today. i want to thank them all for their contributions on this piece of legislation and also i

want to thank the senate majority leader, senator reid, for making sure, for deciding that this important piece of legislation is one of the first items that we're taking up in congress this year. mr. president, the specific rules making insider trading illegal are found in a large body of securities and exchange commission regulatory activities pursuant to section 10-b of the securities and exchange act of 1934 and court decisions interpreting those activities. our homeland security committee held a hearing on this topic in december, and the securities and exchange commission actually filed a statement with us for the record indicating its belief, declaring its belief that currently there is authority in the law to investigate and prosecute congressional insider trading

cases. the chief enforcement officer of the s.e.c. said, and i quote, "trading by congressional members or their staffs is not exempt from the federal securities laws, including the insider trading prohibitions." end quote. but other witnesses at that hearing, including georgetown university law professor donald langavort, and john coffee told us, that while the s.e.c. mighting technically rierkts in their opinion, there was ambiguity in the law and they couldn't be sure how a court would rule if there was a challenge to the s.e.c.'s authority to bring an insider trading case against a member of congress or a staff member. that is because, as the professors explained, a person may be found to have violated insider trading laws only if he or she breaks a fiduciary duty, a duty of trust and confidence owed to somebody, tiply t typico

the shareholders of a company. they argue that it's possible that a judge might decide that members of congress do not have a fiduciary duty in the way in which it's normally been interpreted to anyone with respect to the nonpublic information that we receive while carrying out our duties. now, i must say that i find it hard to see it that way. it seems to me self-hevident tht public office is a public trust and that members of congress have a duty to the institution of congress, but of course to the government as a whole, and ultimately, most important, to the american people, not to use information gained during our time in congress in unavailable -- and unavailable to the public to make investments for personal profit. but, the fact is, that there are some very experienced and

intelligent legal experts who told our committee that they couldn't validate, couldn't certify that a judge would see it exactly that way. and that's really the purpose -- the first purpose of this act, the stoct act. it clarifies the ambiguity in securities laws by explicitly stating that members of congress and our staffs have a duty of trust to the institution of congress, to the united states government, and to the american people. a duty that members of congress violate, if we trade on nonpublic information we gained by virtue of our public position. the bill also requires the ethics committees of both houses of congress to issue guidance to clarify that members and staff may not use nonpublic information derived from our positions -- their positions in congress to make a private profit. besides these changes -- and

this is different and important -- our committee decided that the stock act should require members of congress and their staffs to file public reports on our purchases or sale of stock, bonds, commodities, futures, or other financial transactions exceeding $1,000 in value within 30 days of the transaction. right now, as the president of the senate knows, these trades are reported once a year in our annual financial disclosure statements. so this proposal would change that to within 30 days of the trade. more timely reporting of this kind will allow not just the s.e.c. but the public to assess whether there is anything suspicious or wrong about the timing of the trade and conduct here in the senate. and that kind of early transparency will be an additional deterrent to

unethical or illegal behavior. the bill also contains another important provision offered in committee by senators jon tester and mark begich that will require that financial disclosure forms filed by members and staff to be filed electronically, and perhaps even more significantly, therefore be available online for public review. the fact is our reports are now available for public review, but you've got to go to the office of the secretary of the senate and ask for copies of them. there's no sensible reason to make someone physically come to the house or senate to see a copy of one of our financial disclosure forms. they are public records, and they ought to be easily available to the public online, and this proposal will make sure that that happens.

mr. president, those are the three major provisions of the proposal as i see it: to establish a clear fiduciary duty under the insider trading laws so that it is clear that members of congress and our staffs are covered by them; secondly, to require disclosure of trades in excess of $1,000 within 30 days; and, third, that those trades and our annual financial report will be electronically filed and, therefore, available online. may i say that, as we begin this second session of the -- of the 112th session of congress, we begin with so much distrust of our federal government that i think passing the stock act could really have a positive effect on how we're being perceived and particularly if, as i hope, we will pass it on a bipartisan basis. the stock act was passed out of our committee in exactly that

way. it has the support of members and leaders, i believe, of both pearlts i -- of badge parties in the house and president obama has promised to sign it as soon as it comes to his desk. so let me end by quoting from our first president, this time from his inaugural address where he set the ideals for the new government that our country would have. he said, "the foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality. the preeminence of free government will be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world." unquote. connecting this proposal -- enacting this proposal into law will say to our disappointed, our skeptical, our troubled constituents that we understand

and accept washington's wisdom. i thank the chair. and, at this time, i'd yield to my dear friend, the distinguished ranking member of our committee, senator collins. ms. collins: thank you. mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. i'm pleased to join the chairman of our committee, senator lieberman, and the sponsor of this bill, senator scott brown, today in urging our colleagues to begin consideration of what is known as the stock act. this legislation is based on a bill that was first introduced in the senate by senator scott brown and a similar one introduced by senator gillibrand. put simply, the stock act is intended to ensure that members of congress do not profit from trading on insider information.

senator brown's bill, i want to commend him for his leadership in this area. i also want to recognize chairman lieberman for moving this important bill forward in such an expeditious manner. mr. president, press reports on "60 minutes" and elsewhere have raised questions about whether lawmakers have been exempt either legally or practically from the reach of our laws prohibiting insider trading. at a time when polls show record low public confidence in congress, there is a strong desire on our part to address the concerns that underpin the public skepticism and assure the american people that we are putting their interests ahead of our own. the stock act is intended to

affirm that members of congress are not exempt from our laws prohibiting insider trading. while several of the witnesses who appeared before our commit's hearing on this bill testified that there is no legal exemption for members of congress, confusion and uncertainty nevertheless persists. for example, on the eve of our markup, the "wall street journal" published an op-ed by a yale law professor who wrote that -- quote -- "the securities and exchange commission has determined that insider trading laws do not apply to members of congress or their staff." end quote. this, however, is directly contradicted by the statement for the record submitted to the committee by the s.e.c.'s

enforcement director who said -- quote -- "there is no reason why trading by members of congress or their staff members should be considered exempt from the federal securities laws, including trading prohibitions." end quote. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the s.e.c. statement and the "wall street journal" op-ed be entered into the record at the conclusion of my comments. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. collins: mr. president, to me, this illustrates the confusion over this issue, so i'm pleased that the committee not only reported senator brown's bill, but unanimously adopted an amendment that i offered with chairman lieberman that states clearly that members and their staff are not exempt from insider trading laws. the need for this unambiguous

statement can likely be traced back to the nature of the insider trading laws. as our committee has learned, our nation's insider it trading laws are not, generally speaking, based on statutes passed by congress, but rather on court precedents. as one of our witnesses, a law professor from indiana university, pointed out during our hearing, congress has never enacted a federal securities statute that explicitly prohibits anyone from insider trading. that explicit statutory ban on insider trading is entirely absent in u.s. securities law. rather, mr. president, the s.e.c. pursues insider trading cases under the general antifraud provisions of the

federal securities laws, most commonly section 10-b of the securities exchange act of 1934 and rule 10-b-5, a broad antifraud rule promulgated by the commission. therefore, what constitutes insider trading has largely been determined by the courts, including the supreme court, on a case-by-case basis. under the case law, two different types or theories of insider trading violations have developed. one, where the defendant is a classic corporate insider using nonpublic information to trade on the company's stock. and a second, where the defendant has misappropriated insider -- inside information in violation of a duty owed to the

source of the information, such as a lawyer who trades on advance notice of a business transaction. both types of cases, however, share common elements. there must be a breach of a duty, such as a traditional fiduciary duty or a duty of trust and confidence. the breach must involve material information which is the type of information a reasonable investor would consider important in making a decision to buy or sell stock. the information must be nonpublic, and the defendant must receive a personal benefit which the supreme court has said may include not only financial gain, but also reputational benefits. as the supreme court has held, under section 10-b, the

chargeable conduct must involve a deceptive device or contrivance used in connection with the purchase or sale of securities. and in criminal prosecutions for insider trading under rule 10-b-5, the government must prove that a person willfully violated the provision with culpable intent. although the witnesses who came before the committee generally agree that congress enjoys no exemption from insider trading laws, they also stress the need to clarify the relevant duty that applies to members. the board reported by the committee in language refined by senator levin addressed this issue by affirming the duty

arising from the relationship of trust and confidence already owed by members and their staff to the congress, the united states government, and the citizens we serve. at our markup, we clarified that this does not create a new fiduciary duty in the traditional sense, but rather recognizes or affirms our existing duty. as reported, the bill would also have amended the congressional accountability act to prohibit members and staff from using nonpublic information gained through the peformance of their officials *fr official duties for -- official duties for personal benefit. this proposed prohibition, however, was not limited to the trading context or otherwise tethered to financial transactions. because it was not anchored in

financial transactions, i expressed some concerns about the potential breadth of this term and the potential for unintended consequences. these concerns were echoed by several members of the committee during our consideration of the bill. therefore, following the markup, we continued to refine the bill while adhering to the fundamental principle that members of congress should be subject to the same insider trading laws as other americans. i believe we've come up with a solution that addresses the potential problem that really troubles all of us, and that is public officials using public office for private gain. we need, however, to make sure that in doing so we do not

inhibit our ability to gather information so that we can serve our constituents to the best of our ability. the proposed substitute offered by senator reid, senator brown, senator lieberman reflects the work of our committee members as well as other bill sponsors. it would require the senate ethics committee and the house committee on standards of official conduct to issue guidance on the relevant roles of each chamber, clarifying that members and staff may not use nonpublic information derived from their positions in congress to make a personal profit. this would cover insider trading matters as well as land deals and other financial transactions where nonpublic information

could be wrongly converted into a private gain. like the reported bill, the substitute includes a straightforward statement making clear that members and their staff are not exempt from insider trading prohibitions arising from the securities laws. in keeping with an amendment that senator paul successfully offered at our markup, the substitute applies the same framework, the clarification of the prohibition against using nonpublic information for private profit and the affirmation of the existing duty that we have to the employees of the executive and judicial branches as well as the legislative branch. and like the reported bill, the substitute includes earlier deadlines for financial

reporting requirements and greater transparency for financial disclosure statements. as the chairman mentioned, by requiring that they be available online and in a searchable format. mr. president, i believe that we need to reassure a skeptical public that we understand that elective office is a place for public service, not private gain. that it is an honor and a trust that we have been given by the people that we represent. underscoring that important message is clearly the intent of this bill, and that is why i support it. i urge my colleagues to vote "yes" and invoke cloture on the motion to proceed. and i now yield the floor to the sponsor of the bill, senator

brown. thank you, mr. president. mr. brown: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i want to thank obviously ranking member collins and chairman lieberman for really doing something very unusual around here, which is to get something out in a very short period of time. having it not only come up, being filed by senator gillibrand, her bill and me with my bill, and then you both working together to move it forward for a hearing, and then that hearing going very well and coming out so quickly is unheard of. i want to thank you for that. i want to thank senator reid for bringing this bill to the floor today as well as, as i said, chairman lieberman, ranking member collins and senator gillibrand. we've worked together to draft a bipartisan version of the stock act, an act that passed homeland security and governmental affairs committee by an overwhelming margin. and that's appropriate because this is -- it isn't a partisan

or ideological issue. it's about cleaning up washington. abraham lincoln spoke at gettysburg fighting to preserve government of the people, by the people and for the people. i think if the approval ratings are any indication, the american people have lost faith that we are living up to lincoln's ideal, and we need to do it better. they have lost faith that congress works for them. they believe too many members of congress have come to washington to make themselves rich or do other things instead of taking care of the people's business. and that congress only steps in to bail out the people with the most money or the most lobbying power. and that's not right. with the bill before us today, we can take a small step to reestablishing the trust between the american people and congress. if we pass the stock act this week, it will send a very strong and unified message to the american people that congress does not -- does not -- consider

itself above the law. we can start to finally address that deficit of trust that the president referenced in his state of the union address. members of congress must live by the same rules that govern every other american citizen. as you recall from a "60 minutes" investigation only two months ago, we learned members of congress, their staff as well as other federal employees may be using material nonpublic information for their personal gain either through stock trades, real estate deals or other financial activity. everyone agrees that this should be illegal, or it already is as referenced by the ranking member and her very thorough explanation of the law and problems with it. somehow despite all of the evidence, despite all the evidence there has never been a single member of congress or congressional staffer charged with insider trading. have to admit, like you and many others, i was shocked by this report. i think we all were.

as a result, i filed my version of the stock act which would prohibit members and employees of congress from using material nonpublic information for their personal benefit. when homeland security and governmental affairs committee held a hearing on the state of insider trading and the law as such, it applies to congress, one thing was very, very clear. although as ranking member collins said, the s.e.c. theoretically has the ability to prosecute members, there has been no precedent for it, and the state of law at this point is very, very unsettled. to remove any and all doubt, we need to act and we need to act now. in addition to clarifying that insider trading is indeed a criminal offense, we are increasing the trainers of members' trading activity to make sure that our investment decisions are out there for everyone to see plain as day. as president ronald reagan liked to say, trust but verify. in conclusion, i want to say

that senator coburn has a phrase that i think is very accurate in this context. he talks about all the earmarks and contracts that -- in washington spending that ends up in the hands of those people he calls, and i quote, well heeled and well connected. in my opinion, no one is more well connected with more access to a wide range of privileged nonpublic information than members of congress, their friends, employees or family members. at a time when our economy is struggling and the average american family has to make hard economic choices, congressional members and staff should not be lining their pockets on insider information. serving our country is a privilege, one that i cherish very, very much. i believe that we must level the playing field and show the american people that the united states congress does not consider itself to be above the laws that we expect everyone

else across the country to cobra. i believe it's time to listen to our constituents and remember that every seat in this room is the people's seat. thank you, mr. president, and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mrs. gillibrand: thank you very much to my colleague from massachusetts for his strong advocacy on such an important issue. i want to recognize chairman lieberman and ranking member collins for their leadership and their advocacy and for their work in getting this out of committee so quickly. i urge all of my colleagues to vote yes for cloture tonight on this bipartisan bill to ensure clearly and unambiguously that all members of congress, their staff and federal employees play by the exact same rules as the american people. the american people deserve the right to know that their lawmakers' only interest is what's best for the country, not their own financial interests. members of congress, their families and staff shouldn't be

able to gain personal profits from information they have access to that everyday middle-class americans don't. it's simply not right. nobody should be above the rules. i introduced a bipartisan bill in the senate with 28 of our colleagues from both sides of the aisle to close this loophole. the stock act legislation is very similar to the legislation introduced by my friends in the house of representatives, congresswoman louise slaughter and congressman tim walls. i want to thank them for their long-standing advocacy and attention to this cause. i want to thank senator lieberman and all the committee members for their work in acting swiftly to move this commonsense bill to the floor for a vote. i also want to thank leader reid for his leadership in moving this body forward to this important debate for an up-or-down vote that the american people deserve.

our bill which has received the support of at least seven good government groups covers two important principles -- first, members of congress, their families and their staffs should be barred from buying or selling securities on the basis of knowledge gained through their congressional service or from using the knowledge to tip off anyone else. the s.e.c. and the cftc must be empowered to investigate these cases to provide additional teeth. such action would also be in violation of congress' own rules to make it clear that the activity is inappropriate. and second, members should be required to disclose transactions within 30 days to make this information available online for their constituents to see, providing dramatically improved oversight and accountability from the current annual hard copy reporting. i am pleased that the final product that passed with

bipartisan support out of the committee is a strong bill with teeth and includes measures such as ensuring members of congress cannot tip off others with nonpublic information gained through their duties and ensures trading from this information would also be a violation of congress' own ethics rules. some critics have said that this bill is unnecessary and already covered under current statutes. i have spoken with experts in the past with these investigations of this nature, and they strongly disagree. we must make it unambiguous that this kind of behavior is illegal. as my home state newspaper, "the buffalo news," noted, the stock act would ensure that it's the people's business being attended to. president obama said in his state of the union send him the bill and he will sign it right away. we should not delay. it is time to act. i urge my colleagues to vote yes tonight for cloture so we can pass this bill without delay.

let's take this step to begin rebuilding the trust necessary in congress. thank you. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: i would ask unanimous consent that val mozan, a fellow in my office, be given privileges for the floor today. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. tester: later this afternoon, senators will be given the chance to ban insider trading by senators and members of their staff. insider trading is illegal in america, there is no doubt about that, but when it comes to information that congress learns before the general public learns it, there are no clear-cut rules and that is unacceptable. folks in congress have advance knowledge of which bills and issues congress will consider. they know how those bills will affect basic goods and services, and often the legislation we pass impacts how well a company does on the stock market. good men and women work for

congress, and i have the deepest respect for my colleagues. i would say all come to the senate with good intentions to carry out their daily responsibilities without thinking about using information that they learn for personal financial gain, and that's why banning insider trading should be an easy lift. the fact that members of congress and their staffs are allowed to buy and sell stocks based on privileged information is incredible to me. founders has historically low approval ratings from the american people. they believe many in congress don't represent them and have forgotten what it means to be a normal american. most folks would assume that congressmen and senators already can't trade stocks based on information they get in their jobs, but it turns out this may not be true, and that is just one more example why the american people have lost faith in this institution. as elected officials, it is our duty to regain the trust of the american people. we have an obligation to be as

transparent and as accountable as possible, so i was the first member of congress to post my public schedule online for everybody to see. my constituents can look at my schedule every day to see who i meet with and which hearings i attend. now we have the opportunity to help regain trust in this body by bringing our own rules in line with the rest of america, by adding transparency and accountability, the american people can know that working on their behalf without considering personal financial gains. this bill includes a provision that senator begich and i sponsored to ensure that the annual financial disclosure forms filed by members of congress are available electronically. as with most transparency, full transparency means the public has the right and the ability to see our records. in the 21st century, there is no reason we can't do it right away. letting those disclosures sit in a filing cabinet somewhere in the capitol complex is not

transparency. putting the files online in a searchable format is. in a time of hyperpartisanship, this is an opportunity for both sides to work together on a bill that we sorely need. there is not a democratic or a republican angle to this. every elected official should want to make sure that the rules we are held to are consistent and transparent and in line with the rest of the nation. in fact, this is a nonpartisan bill as it can be with ideas from senator gillibrand and senator brown, carried by senator lieberman. this bill covers each section of the political spectrum. it's a straightforward bill that's long overdue and the stock act will be a step toward ensuring that when people run for congress or come to work for congress, they are doing so because they want to work on behalf of the american people and not for their own personal benefit. i call on my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to vote yes on this act so we can start restoring faith in congress. and with that, i yield the floor

and suggest -- i just yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. brown: i failed to just reference -- i was hopeful i could have nathanial hoops participate in the legislative process on the floor on this debate. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from connecticut. mr. lieberman: i was going to reserve the right to object on senator brown's motion because the aforementioned mr. hoops, i'm proud to say, got his start on capitol hill in my office, and i was just looking for an opportunity to say that. mr. president, we have about 20 minutes until the vote on the motion occurs, and obviously we're all here together, senator collins, senator brown, senator gillibrand, senator tester and i to urge members to vote for cloture to take this measure up. it would be a ray of light, warm

light if we pass this measure, this cloture vote overwhelmingly, and then we could go on to debate it. some people may have amendments. obviously, i presume they will that they want to offer. i hope that in considering amendments that our colleagues will -- will focus on the problem that stimulated this legislation, that led us to bring it to let -- led senator brown, senator gillibrand to introduce it, led our committee to pass it out on a bipartisan vote, which was concern that members of the congress and our staffs are not covered by insider trading laws. this legislation makes clear that we are covered by insider trading laws and therefore can be investigated and prosecuted for violation of those laws, both by the s.e.c. and the justice department, but we have also asked the ethics committees of both houses of congress to

issue interpretive guidances, making clear that insider trading is also a violation of the ethics rules of both chambers. so i'm sure that there are a lot of different things that members of congress, including ourselves on our committee that worked on this bill might have in mind to also correct problems that exist perhaps to also try to help to rebuild public confidence in the institution of congress. but i really appeal to our colleagues not to do so in a way that will make it more difficult or at worst impossible to fix the -- the wrong, the problem that motivated this legislation, which is the fear that members of congress and our staffs are not covered by insider trading laws. i pledge and have talked to

senator collins about this, people have other -- members have other ideas, please introduce them as legislation. to the extent that they are forwarded to our committee, we will give them hearings and due consideration and try to approach them thoughtfully and and -- and then follow the will of the majority of members of our committee. in other words, let's not try to make this measure so sweet that it -- or so good that it can't pass. i just had -- i say to my colleagues a very unusual metaphor come to mind. as i go to dr. seuss, and this is one of my favorite dr. seuss books that i haven't read in a while, thidwick the moose. i don't know if you remember him, but he was a very good-natured moose. one by one through the pages of the book as dr. seuss records

it, other animals in the forest want to lodge in his enormous antlers, and he welcomes them until finally there is too much there, and his antlers fall off and they all fall to the ground. we don't want -- we don't want this wonderful bill, which really does accomplish some very important things, to be so loaded up that it falls by the wayside. like thidwick's antlers. and does not pass. so i urge my colleagues to join us in a spirited debate, but let's exercise the kind of restraint on a bipartisan basis that will allow us to have a significant bipartisan good government accomplishment here at the beginning of this session of congress. i listened to a conversation where somebody

was asked why is the public opinion of congress so bad? the answer somebody gave is because congress has been so bad. this has not been a time in the history of this great institution that i think any of us feel good about and this is an opportunity to do something real that we can not only feel good about but more important, that our constituents can feel good about. so i hope that we will have a resounding vote at 5:30. i'd yield to the senator from massachusetts. the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. brown: thank you. i concur and i've always felt one good deed begets another good deed and so on add so forth. this is a measure that the american people are clamoring for. we need to re-establish the trust with the american people and this is the first step in doing that very thing. i want to once again thank the chairman for referencing something that i failed to reference as well, we need to make sure -- and i would

encourage my colleagues on my side of the aisle and my friends on the other side of the aisle to keep all amendments germane, make sure we move for cloture, get cloture, and then have a free and fair and spirited debate on the issues that concern them. but don't get sidetracked to the point where the bill gets killed or pulled. i think that would be a travesty and a mistake. so i'm going to encourage my colleagues to make sure if they have a concern, let's air it out and take a full and fair vote on it and move forward. and, you know, you, i love hearing your stories. that's why i'm reading your book, all right? because of your knowledge and your history and the way you can weave things back and forth. that's a very good analogy. i too have concerns. as we've referenced many times that there may be forces beyond us who want to make sure that this doesn't come out of committee -- i'm sorry, come out of this chamber and go next door and ultimately signed by the president. i'm not one of them. i want to make sure as you and

you and many other members, the cosponsors and such want to make make sure that this bill comes out in a good and fair form. we're here for a very specific reason to address a very specific issue that affects people quite frankly in a manner that i never thought was possible. there -- if there are other concerns, i commend the chairman for publicly stating let's bring them up in a separate matter and a separate bill and address them, if there are other things we've missed because i have a fear, and i hope i'm wrong, that by making it as you referenced i think too perfect or too sweet it could fail. i don't want to see that. i want to make sure we have a very razor sharp bill that addresses a very specific issue, and if we do it together and work in that true bipartisan manner -- we have an opportunity right now, right now in this moment in our history of this country to do

something special. i was sent here to do the people's business, and i do it each and every day and work across party lines each and every day with good people and good democrats like you and others. and i take that role very, very seriously. we have an opportunity right now to send a very powerful message that the american people are yearning for. they want us to do well. they want us to be good. they want us to be better than we've been representing ourselves out to be right now. so i'm encouraging also, just to reference and take it a step further, my colleagues to do the same thing. let's put our party differences aside, let's put the inner party differences aside. and push this thing through in a thoughtful, methodful, respectful, responsible manner that will make the american people say hmm, wow, okay, it's a good first step. what's next? what's next, congress? you going to do the postal

bill, save the postal bill? i hope that's the next thing up because we need to work in a truly bipartisan manner. once again, who's here? senator lieberman, senator collins, senator carper, and me, we're pushing to try to save the post office. that should be the next thing. what's next after that? we need to address our fiscal and financial issues so we can come out of this three-year recession in a lean and mean manner to be a better country, to be able to compete on a global business -- global basis. put the american people's interests first instead of everybody else's. i usually get in trouble when i go off like this but i think it's critically important to let people know one good deed begets another good deeds begets another good deed. this is the stirs step in this 234u calendar year to do just that. thank you and i yield the floor. mr. lieberman: thank you, senator brown. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. lieberman: i thank the

chair. i'm pleased to report that i just received notice that within the hour the administration put out the statement of administration policy, the so-called s.a.p. strongly endorsing this legislation, s. 2038. and i appreciate that very much. it's a very strong statement of support for the principles and exactly the kinds of things that senator collins, senator brown, senator gillibrand, senator tester and i have been saying here. so as the president said on -- in his state of the union speech, this bill hits -- if we can get this bill to his desk and the sooner the better, he'll sign it as soon as he possibly can. if there is no one else who wishes to speak at this