They just keep doing it

Why is this so fucking tempting to Congress Critters?  It's not like they aren't paid well.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

GOP Health Care Option

Insurance companies win. And GOP cynics win. Unfortunately, American citizens lose. But hey, as Chris Christie said: go run for office if you want the perks.

Health industry stocks, including insurance giants like UnitedHealth, have surged as Republicans move forward with their repeal effort, which rolls back broad taxes on health care firms while loosening consumer regulations which prevent insurance companies from denying coverage for medical treatment. UnitedHealth has gained nearly 7 percent in value since March 24.

[...]

Just as the House Republican bill to slash much of the Affordable Care Act moved forward, Rep. Mike Conaway, a Texas Republican and member of Speaker Paul Ryan’s leadership team, added a health insurance company to his portfolio.

An account owned by Conaway’s wife made two purchases of UnitedHealth stock, worth as much as $30,000, on March 24th, the day the legislation advanced in the House Rules Committee, according to disclosures. The exact value of Conaway’s investment isn’t clear, given that congressional ethics forms only show a range of amounts, and Conaway’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

[...]

As the health care system overhaul advanced last month on the other side of Capitol Hill, Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma purchased between $50,000 to $100,000 in UnitedHealth stock.

“Sen. Inhofe has a financial advisor who makes transactions on his behalf and these transactions are disclosed as required by the STOCK Act,” Nicole Hage, Inhofe’s spokesperson, told The Intercept. “The transaction you reference was routine and made without the Senator’s prior knowledge or consultation.”

  The Intercept

The innocents.

The issue of insider political trading, with members and staff buying and selling stock using privileged information, has continued to plague Congress. It gained national prominence during the confirmation hearings for Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, when it was revealed that the Georgia Republican had bought shares in Innate Immunotherapeutics, a relatively obscure Australian biotechnology firm, while legislating on policies that could have impacted the firm’s performance.

The stock advice had been passed to Price from Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., a board member for Innate Immunotherapeutics, and was shared with a number of other GOP lawmakers, who also invested in the firm.

[...]

Conaway, who serves as a GOP deputy whip in the House, has a long record of investing in firms that coincide with his official duties.

[...]

Some of the biggest controversies stem from the revelation that during the 2008 financial crisis, multiple lawmakers from both parties rearranged their financial portfolios to avoid heavy losses.

[...]

Congress eventually acted with the STOCK Act, legislation designed to curb insider trading abuses. But the law was quickly watered down with amendments, and some provisions of it were later repealed. As we’ve reported, the House of Representatives has actively fought efforts to enforce the law after the Securities and Exchange Commission attempted to investigate one congressional staffer accused of passing health care information to a set of hedge funds.

Thank god we have strong ethics oversight in our government.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

On Second Thought....

Even the House Republicans can be embarrassed.

House Republicans on Tuesday backed out of plans to weaken an independent ethics office after broad criticism of the move.

The decision not to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics comes after an emergency conference meeting and tension on the first day of a new Congress.

[...]

The move effectively would have given the lawmakers themselves oversight over investigations into misconduct by lawmakers and staff. It also would have prevented more information from being released to the public.

[...]

The GOP was set to vote on the package later Tuesday.

This story is developing. Please check back for further updates.

  CNBC

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

And So It Begins

UPDATE 11:29 am: It would seem the House Republicans have thought better of their ploy.

[T]he Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) [...] was set up after a lobbying scandal in 2008 to investigate corruption allegations against members of Congress.

[...]

Former congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham, a California Republican, served more than seven years in prison on bribery and other charges.

Ohio Republican congressman Bob Ney pleaded guilty to corruption charges and a Louisiana Democrat and former congressman, William Jefferson, was convicted on corruption in a separate case.

[...]

[This year, an] amendment was voted through by the House Republican conference over the New Year’s holiday with no prior notice or debate and inserted in a broad rules package the House will vote for on Tuesday [...] putting [the OCE] under their own control, in a secret ballot hours before the new Congress convened for the first time. [...] It turns the formerly independent OCE into the Office of Congressional Complaint Review, a subordinate body to the House Ethics Committee, which is currently run by the Republican majority and has a long history of overlooking charges of malfeasance by lawmakers.

[...]

The new body will not be able to receive anonymous tips from members of Congress or make its findings public.

[...]

The rules package to be voted through on Tuesday [...] will [also] limit the ability of the Democratic minority to block legislation.

[...]

The House Republican vote triggered a wave of outrage from Democrats and government ethics specialists.

  Guardian

The Democrats are going to be really good at outrage the next four years. If it hadn't yet sunk in just how much they screwed themselves in the 2016 elections, it just got very clear.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.