STOCK Act to be named in honor of Louise Slaughter
Press Release, U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand
Louise Slaughter
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced on Friday that the Senate has passed legislation to rename the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012 after the late Representative Louise Slaughter of Rochester.
Schumer and Gillibrand said that since this bill, introduced by Rep. Paul Tonko (D-Amsterdam, Montgomery County), passed the House last month and has now been passed by the Senate it is expected to be signed into law shortly. The STOCK Act prohibits members from using nonpublic information to make a profit. Congresswomen Slaughter was a tireless fighter for Congressional ethics and integrity and was the original author of the STOCK Act. In 2012, Senator Gillibrand wrote the Senate version of the STOCK Act and was the lead champion in passing the bill through the chamber.
“Congresswoman Slaughter never stopped fighting for advancements in women’s rights, government ethics, medical research, Upstate economic revival and so much more, and is deserving of this great honor. As the first Chairwoman of the House Committee on Rules, Louise Slaughter represented her Rochester constituents with passion, integrity and honor,” said Senator Schumer. “The renaming of the landmark STOCK Act after Congresswoman Slaughter, which she authored and shepherded to passage, is a fitting way to commemorate her permanent status as a champion of democracy and integrity and undoubtedly one of the true trailblazers in Congress.”
Representative Louise Slaughter served in the United State House of Representatives for 30 years in New York’s 30th, 28th, and 25th Districts, which included most of Rochester and Monroe County. Slaughter represented part of Orleans County in Congress from 2002 to 2012 after redistricting pitted her against John LaFalce.
Slaughter, the senior member of the New York Congressional delegation, died on March 16 at age 88.
“Congresswoman Louise Slaughter exemplified the very best of our elected leaders. She was kind, she was honorable, and she always believed in doing what was right on behalf of her constituents and her country,” said Senator Gillibrand, who championed the STOCK Act in the Senate. “We worked very hard together to make sure that all members of Congress could be held to the highest standards. She first introduced the STOCK Act in 2006 and didn’t give up until it was signed into law. She was proud to see the bill that she championed to prevent corruption in Congress become law, and it is only fitting that we rename the legislation in her honor.”
Slaughter’s tenure in Congress was filled with a number of landmark achievements in the issue areas of women’s rights, medical research, government ethics, and many more. In 1993, Slaughter secured the very first $500 million in National Institutes of Health funding to research breast cancer. In 1994, Slaughter passed the Violence Against Women Act, and was an original author of the legislation. In 2006, Slaughter introduced the STOCK Act to the House of Representatives. She spent years pushing for this critical legislation, and in 2012 it passed the House by a 417-2 vote, and the Senate by a 96-3 vote.
