type: timeline_event
The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act gained explosive momentum on November 13, 2011, after CBS's 60 Minutes aired an investigation revealing that members of Congress allegedly used non-public information from their official positions for personal financial gain. The broadcast documented that House member stock portfolios from 1985 to 2001 beat the market average by approximately 6 percent annually, while Senate portfolios outperformed by about 10 percent — statistical anomalies strongly suggesting insider trading. Within five days of the broadcast, the STOCK Act, originally introduced by Washington Congressman Brian Baird but ignored for years, received 84 additional House co-sponsors.
Senators Scott Brown and Kirsten Gillibrand reintroduced legislation prohibiting members and employees of Congress, as well as executive branch employees, from using non-public information obtained through public service for personal financial gain. The bill responded to the fundamental asymmetry in which corporate insiders faced strict legal restrictions on trading while members of Congress could attend classified briefings about upcoming policy changes and immediately trade stocks in affected industries. The STOCK Act passed both chambers and was signed into law by President Obama in April 2012, in a high-profile East Room ceremony.
Less than a year later, however, Congress quietly gutted the law's key transparency provisions. In April 2013, using unanimous consent procedures in largely empty chambers, Congress eliminated the requirement for a searchable online database of financial disclosure information and removed the mandate that reports be filed electronically. The White House announcement of the rollback was a single sentence. The episode illustrated a recurring pattern in anti-corruption legislation: popular reforms passed under public pressure were subsequently defanged once media scrutiny faded.