The United States House of Representatives has recently passed a new bill that is going to curb insider trading among lawmakers. The bill originated in the United States Senate and was signed a week before the House of Representatives approved it. The bill is now headed to the desk of President Obama, who has promised to sign it as quickly as possible.

The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act is intended to stop cases of financial fraud by individuals who have access to Congressional materials. However, the bill has been somewhat limited in its scope after some criticisms. Congress has removed a few words that stipulate that insiders in Washington will not be barred from selling information. Clearly, this creates loophole for many people who are interested in buying and selling information on Wall Street, but the bill is expected to be changed in coming months. At the very least, most people say it is a step in the right direction.

A provision is added into the bill which encourages Congress to impose new regulations on reporters and others who are closely tied to the ins and outs of Congress each day. A lot of controversy took place over the past few months after it became widely available that members of Congress were legally allowed to engage in insider trading. The theory was that because Congressional hearings are considered public then any information in such a hearing isn’t covered under the provisions by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is responsible for dropping a few of the provisions that were set forth in the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act. Many advocates of the bill assailed Cantor with accusations that he gave into the whims of bankers and large corporations on Wall Street. However, Cantor said such allegations were false. He said that his only concern was ensuring that they would avoid the possibility that they would create unnecessary impositions against people’s civil liberties.

A few other provisions in the bill also limited the type of information that Congress would have immediate access to. For example, lawmakers would be barred from having preferential access to information on new offerings and IPOs. The provision is named the Pelosi provision after the Senate leader. Pelosi’s husband had access to Congressional data and used it to engage in an IPO based on information that was not publicly available. However, Pelosi herself supported this provision.