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A question to people who might pay more attention to the functioning of Congress than me: Is much of their day-to-day business actually secret? If Congress is a

A question to people who might pay more attention to the functioning of Congress than me: Is much of their day-to-day business actually secret? If Congress is about to pass a bill which will benefit company X, can't we all go on to the House or Senate web sites and read the drafts of those bills and have the same "insider information" that they do? Are we just mad that they're paying more attention to what they themselves are doing and how it will benefit certain companies' stocks than normal people who have better things to do with their lives than track what Congress is debating from day to day?

rrrrrrrrrrrryan 7y ago
Most of the actual negotiations do happen behind closed doors, and there are likely many times during their term when a congressperson would know of market-moving macroeconomic news before it's been publicly disclosed.
toast0 7y ago
> can't we all go on to the House or Senate web sites and read the drafts of those bills and have the same "insider information" that they do? The published drafts are days behind what's being circulated; you can see this every time there's an emergency bill, it's often voted on almost simultaneously with the final text being released. Sometimes, there's a reading of the bill, if people push the right procedural buttons. Regardless, insider trading on delayed information isn't nearly as good as insider trading on current information (probably? I don't have experience with insider trading :)
- metaphor 7y ago
  This. When npr.org has more timely, relevant information than congress.gov--e.g. S.3548[1] wholesale pivots to H.R.748[2] with significant changes incorporated, and the latter isn't updated until days later--it leaves much for the general public to desire. [1] https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3548 https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/354... [2] https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/748 https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/748
kingbirdy 7y ago
Congressmembers have access to the information earlier than the public. For example, Senator A may be reading a private draft of Bill B, which he expects will benefit the stock price of Company C, so he buys shares of C now at $50, unveils the legislation in a week which pushes the price up to $75, and passes the legislation the next week pushing the price up to $100. So the insider-trading Congressman gets a $50/share profit, while someone who was diligently watching the hill would only be able to act from the public release of the legislation and capture a $25/share profit.

rrrrrrrrrrrryan 7y ago

Most of the actual negotiations do happen behind closed doors, and there are likely many times during their term when a congressperson would know of market-moving macroeconomic news before it's been publicly disclosed.

toast0 7y ago

> can't we all go on to the House or Senate web sites and read the drafts of those bills and have the same "insider information" that they do? The published drafts are days behind what's being circulated; you can see this every time there's an emergency bill, it's often voted on almost simultaneously with the final text being released. Sometimes, there's a reading of the bill, if people push the right procedural buttons. Regardless, insider trading on delayed information isn't nearly as good as insider trading on current information (probably? I don't have experience with insider trading :)

metaphor 7y ago
This. When npr.org has more timely, relevant information than congress.gov--e.g. S.3548[1] wholesale pivots to H.R.748[2] with significant changes incorporated, and the latter isn't updated until days later--it leaves much for the general public to desire. [1] https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3548 https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/354... [2] https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/748 https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/748

kingbirdy 7y ago

Congressmembers have access to the information earlier than the public. For example, Senator A may be reading a private draft of Bill B, which he expects will benefit the stock price of Company C, so he buys shares of C now at $50, unveils the legislation in a week which pushes the price up to $75, and passes the legislation the next week pushing the price up to $100. So the insider-trading Congressman gets a $50/share profit, while someone who was diligently watching the hill would only be able to act from the public release of the legislation and capture a $25/share profit.