46 members of Congress have violated a federal law designed to defend against conflicts-of-interest, curb insider trading and enhance public transparency
The standard fine for violating the STOCK Act is $200, but frequently the House Committee on Ethics and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics waive the fee.
Craig Holman, a Capitol Hill lobbyist on ethics and campaign finance rules for nonprofit Public Citizen, said the fee is one of two reasons why the STOCK Act is frequently violated.
“The penalty is so minimal that these millionaire members of Congress really don't care about it," Holman told Raw Story. “The second provision is the ethics committees are not really enforcing it or taking it seriously.”
The standard fine for violating the STOCK Act is $200, but frequently the House Committee on Ethics and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics waive the fee.
The penalty is $200, but only if they feel like paying it.
Fun fact: NASA employees are unable to even talk with congressional representatives about proposed scientific missions because it is considered a “conflict of interest”. Let that sink in. Meanwhile…
Just because I was curious: I counted 23 R, 22 D, 1 I. That might be off by one or two but I was surprised (well maybe not really) how evenly split it was
As someone who's done a ton of work getting companies to be SOX compliant I have a fresh new hatred for our system of government. I get a new one just about every day at this point.
The Supreme Court, Congress... your leadership seems to have a problem delaying gratification. You know that's a predictor of success later in life, right? The ability to delay gratification. People who are unable to do that tend to leave a lot of messes for others to clean up, which is no way to run a successful criminal enterprise. Just saying.