track to passage, a fast track that seemed to have been created a few weeks ago after steve croft on 60 minutes revealed that congress members were legally allowed to use inside information that they learn in briefings or reports to make money, something like regular people like us would be arrested for. why does congress get a pass on this? it s really the way the rules have been defined and the people who make the rules are the political class in washington and they ve conveniently written them in such a way that they don t apply to themselves. the buying and selling of stock by corporate insiders who have access to nonpublic information that can affect the stock price can be a criminal offense. just have raj who got 11 years for doing it. but congressional lawmakers have no corporate responsibilities and have long been considered exempt from insider trading laws even though they have daily access to nonpublic information and plenty of opportunities to trade on it.