The United States Senate took up the STOCK Act that was amended by the House and voted on passage today.

In a vote of 96-3, the bill breezed through the Senate and is now on its way to President Obama’s desk for his signature. Missing from the bill are two amendments stripped from the bill by the House before passage there.

Grassley’s and Leahy’s amendment, which was stripped from the House bill by House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, before being introduced for a vote, pertained to Washington Insiders who collect information or political intelligence from Washington and sell tthat information to their clients. Under the now gone amendment, such people would have to register under the lobbying disclosure law so that they can be identified, adding transparency to government and adding a level of accountability.

Leahy’s amendment would have given government prosecutors tools to identify, investigate and prosecute any criminal conduct by politicians in Washington.

Instead of taking the bill to conference, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, chose to take the bill to a vote. Reid also voted against the amendments when they were first introduced. Reid said earlier this week that unnamed Senators would have objected to proceeding to conferencce and that it would have taken too long to vote them down.

Alaska’s Senators Murkowski and Begich voted to pass the now largely toothless Act today in the Senate.

Senator Murkowski stated, “We all see the poll numbers about how Americans view Congress. This legislation is important to rebuild and regain some of the trust that voters have lost with Capitol Hill,” said Murkowski. “This also brings accountability into the 21^st century – financial disclosures will be online when we file them within 30 days of any activity, not the current hard copy that gets hand-delivered to the Senate. This is a timely and transparent step towards raising confidence in Congress.”

Grassley voted against final passage of the STOCK Act in the Senate along with GOP Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.) and Tom Coburn (Okla.).