Melina Mara, The Washington Post / Getty Images
Congress has finally decided to do something about its dismal approval ratings. A 93–2 procedural vote on Monday cleared the way for the Senate to pass a ban on congressional insider trading later in the week. The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act requires disclosure of stock transactions within 30 days and prevents members of Congress from initiating trades based on nonpublic information. The bill is technically symbolic, because lawmakers are already subject to the same laws as other investors who use nonpublic information to make money, but no one in Congress has been charged with insider trading in recent memory. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid explained that the bill “will clear up any perception that it’s acceptable for members of Congress to profit from insider trading.”