Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 3rd, 2012

Miracles do happen: the Senate voted Thursday to strengthen insider-trading bans for its members (the kind of law that applies to non-elected citizens of our land), and in the process agreed to ban bonuses for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives.

The Senate overwhelmingly passed on a 96-3 vote the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act. What astounds me is that three senators had the gall to oppose this ban:  Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Richard Burr of North Carolina, both Republicans, and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico Democrat opposed it. I have to wonder why, and just how quickly these thugs can be voted out of office.

Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, scored a win with his amendment to ban Fannie and Freddie bonuses, after sponsors of the legislation had urged their colleagues to avoid proposing unrelated pet projects — a request that was promptly ignored by members of both parties.

The legislation, which President Obama called for in his State of the Union address, specifies that members of Congress are subject to an existing 1934 law banning trading based on insider information. Of course the proposed legislation banning earmarks was removed: who would want to remove their ability to send frivolous (taxpayer paid) gifts back home?

Martha Stewart must feel a lot better this morning: I bet she is savoring a batch of freshly baked muffins with a huge smile!