The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. February 9, 2012 House to Vote on Weakened Ethics Rules --------------------------------------- House lawmakers are expected to pass a watered-down version of legislation today banning insider-trading in Congress. House Republican leader Eric Cantor has stripped The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act — or Stock Act — of a rule that would have required political intelligence consultants to register in the same way as lobbyists. Democratic Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York said the public needs to know more about these consultants, who she said, "glean information from members of Congress and staff and sell it to clients who make a lot of money off it."