Washington ( CNN ) -- Members of Congress and their staffs would be prohibited from using insider legislative information for investment purposes under legislation filed Tuesday in the wake of a CBS News `` 60 Minutes '' report . On Sunday , `` 60 Minutes '' aired a report highlighting instances in which congressional officials reportedly bought stocks around the same time Congress was discussing legislation affecting those companies or industries . The show looked at the investments of various lawmakers -- including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi , House Speaker John Boehner and Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama . The bill filed Tuesday by Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown would make it illegal for elected congressional officials , their staffs and executive branch employees to use information about pending bills that 's not available to the general public in making investment decisions . It would also forbid them from making such information public for personal gain . Brown 's bill , which he called the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge , or STOCK Act , would clarify insider trading regulations that do not clearly identify whether the use of inside government information constitutes insider trading . `` Members of Congress should live under the same laws as everyone else . If they trade on inside knowledge to line their own pockets , they should be punished , '' Brown said in a statement , without referencing any of the officials named in the report . `` Serving the public is a privilege and honor , not an opportunity for personal gain . '' On Sunday , Pelosi fired back at the report , dismissing claims that her 2008 purchase with her husband of 5,000 shares of the initial public offering of credit card company Visa conflicted with a piece of legislation -- opposed by credit-card companies -- that was making its way through the House . `` It is very troubling that '60 Minutes ' would base their reporting off of an already-discredited conservative author who has made a career of out attacking Democrats , '' Pelosi 's spokesman , Drew Hammill , said in a statement soon after the report aired . He added that Congress passed even stronger credit card legislation at about the same time . In addition to Pelosi , the CBS report looked at the investments of of Bachus and Boehner . Bachus bought options funds betting financial markets would fall at about the same time he met with with then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson , Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and lawmakers about the imminent collapse of the global economy , CBS reported . He also traded General Electric stock , and roughly a third of GE 's business is in financial services , CBS reported . CBS said Boehner bought health insurance stocks during the health care debate , which increased in value after Republicans succeeded in killing a proposal to allow the government to offer a health insurance plan to compete with private companies . In a statement , Bachus ' office said the representative never trades financial services stocks or trades on private information . Boehner said at a news conference that he has not made decisions on his stock portfolio for years .
Bill would prohibit members of Congress , their staffs , from trading on inside information . Members of Congress should live by the same rules everyone else does , sponsor says . Massachusetts senator files the bill after `` 60 Minutes '' questioned congressional trades . House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi criticized the report .