“Send me a bill that bans insider trading by members of Congress, and I will sign it tomorrow,” Obama said during his address to a joint session of Congress.

In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama highlighted one particular piece of legislation to restore the public's faith in their government:

Today, the Senate voted to move forward with the STOCK Act, which will do precisely that. Today's vote was on cloture, the Senate agreeing to move the bill forward, and it passed 93-2 (Sens. Tom Coburn [R-OK] and Richard Burr [R-NC] voted against). The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which would prevent members of Congress and federal employees from using insider knowledge from trading stocks based on that knowledge. The bill was introduced by Sens. Scott Brown (R-MA) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promised an amendment process when the bill comes to the floor for final passage.

You might remember that this bill was somewhat controversial last year, when House Financial Services Chairman Spencer Bachus was all set to move forward, but found an unsurmountable obstacle: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

In a Wednesday meeting described by one source as “extremely direct” and by another as “very blunt,” Cantor (R-Va.) ripped into Bachus, explaining in no uncertain terms that it was unacceptable for Bachus to mark up the bill without having run it by GOP leaders and other chairmen with jurisdiction over its provisions. [...] Cantor delivered the cease-and-desist order on behalf of GOP leaders, other chairmen and rank-and-file lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who were concerned that Bachus could help give the bill life by having the committee approve it. In particular, it put members of the committee in a tough spot: Even if they think the bill’s a bad idea, it’s hard to go home and explain why they voted against it.

Cantor soon backed down, saying in mid-December that the bill would come to the floor in the House in 2012 in a new and improved version. See, he only rejected it initially because it didn't go far enough. And it only took him a week to come up with that explanation. At any rate, it looks like he's going to get his chance to follow through on that promise.

(And in case you're really curious, no, members of Congress, their families and staff aren't explicitly covered by insider trading regulations. Go figure.)