Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012

Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, essentially this amendment, very simply and directly, assures that Members of Congress who may be prosecuted and convicted of the offenses specified in the amendment also should see their pensions revoked, along with potentially other crimes that they may have committed.

The purpose essentially is to assure the credibility of Congress by revoking pensions of corrupt Members of Congress, not only those who may be convicted under this pending bill--insider trading--but also a variety of other public corruption offenses. In fact, the amendment adds 22 new public corruption offenses to existing law that merit the cancellation or revoking of congressional pensions.

I have worked with Senator Kirk, who, unfortunately, could not be with us today. He and his staff have been integral. It is a bipartisan-proposed statute that is similar to one I worked to enact in Connecticut when I was the attorney general there.

The guiding principle is absolutely crystal clear, consistent with the basic measure we are considering: not one dime of taxpayer money should go to corrupt elected officials.

Over the past 50 years, Members of Congress have been convicted of 16 separate felonies. So the need for this measure is considerable, even if it is a small minority of the Members of Congress. In fact, right now, approximately $800,000 a year is paid to Members of Congress who have been convicted of these kinds of felonies.

So I wish to particularly thank Senator Kirk and quote him since he could not be here today. He said, earlier this year, of this legislation:

American taxpayers should not be on the hook for the pension benefits of convicted felons. Expanding current law to include additional public corruption felonies will block pension benefits for Members who fail to honor their pledge to defend the Constitution and uphold the laws of the United States. Once you have violated the public trust in that way, I think that the taxpayers should not be supporting your retirement.

In short, very simply, a breach of law by an elected official is a serious offense that should have consequences. Taxpayers should not pay for the retirement benefits of elected officials convicted of a felony--Members of Congress, anyone else--especially as the United States faces the soaring deficits that it does now and the crippling debt that grows even higher.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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