Senate adds executive branch to STOCK Act

Some members of Congress want to include executive branch employees in a bill that would ban lawmakers from using nonpublic information to make stock trades. The bill also would require public reporting of new securities transactions within 30 days, all part of an effort by Congress to boost its dismal approval ratings that are now in the teens.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor told reporters Tuesday that if the bill now before the Senate isn't expanded to include the executive branch, he would add that provision to a bill expected to receive a House vote sometime in February.

A Senate amendm...