G.O.P. Leaders in House Remove Part of Ethics Bill

[mfcorey1]

WASHINGTON — With the House poised to take up a major ethics bill, Republican leaders have deleted a provision that would, for the first time, regulate the collection of “political intelligence” from political insiders for the use of hedge funds, mutual funds and other investors.

House Democrats protested the change on Wednesday, but said they would still vote for the bill — to ban insider trading by members of Congress — when it reached the House floor on Thursday. A version of the bill that the Senate passed last week would require “political intelligence consultants” to disclose their activities and register as lobbyists do.

Representative Louise M. Slaughter, Democrat of New York, said lawmakers and the public needed to know more about the activities of these professionals, who she said “glean information from members of Congress and staff and sell it to clients who make a lot of money off it.”

Ms. Slaughter said many people on Wall Street and in the political intelligence business were lobbying against the registration requirement, which could force investment advisers to disclose the clients for whom they did policy research.

In place of the registration requirement, the House Republican leader, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, decided that the House bill should call for a study of the political intelligence business by the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress. The study, which could take up to a year, would examine the benefits of a reporting requirement and “any legal and practical issues that may be raised” by it.

Laena Fallon, a spokeswoman for Mr. Cantor, said the proposed registration requirement needed to be studied because it was extremely broad and could infringe on the First Amendment rights of community groups, Rotary clubs and local chambers of commerce, as well as “national media conglomerates.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/us/politics/house-republicans-cut-an-ethics-bill-provision.html?hp

[pepperbear]

1. yeah, they removed the part that dealt with the....you know....ethics. n/t

[cstanleytech]

3. Here is an idea, lets form a campaign to

print out the definition of "ethics" and mail it to all the republicans, imagine them getting flooded with hundreds if not thousands of that in their mail lol

[Iliyah]

2. These house goppers

are doing everything to protect themselves, but, eff, still no talk about jobs and helping to promote a stronger economy. What arseholes!

[cstanleytech]

4. To be fair they do talk about helping the poor

though of course its usually along the lines of cutting the taxes on the rich because their job creators!!!!
Which of course by the unemployment numbers prove has been an epic fail as far as an idea goes.

[FarLeftFist]

5. I really hope someone is keeping track of all the GOP bat-shittery over the past 3 yrs so I can make

a Youtube video in a couple of months and remind the country. I want ALL OF IT! From "death panels" to anti-union bills to attacks on women's rights to any and all of the bizarre legislation they have tried to pass. Someone? Anyone? I will make a great video if someone can spare me the long-winded research.

[AlbertCat]

6. G.O.P. Leaders in House Remove Part of Ethics Bill

What.
The part between the binders?