With public approval ratings at shameful levels, Congress is poised to take a critical step toward rebuilding voters' trust-- passing legislation that would clearly and specifically ban insider trading by members of Congress and staffers.

The Senate could vote today on this long-overdue safeguard known as the STOCK Act. (STOCK stands for "Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge.") Insider trading is a crime, and it's just common sense that members of Congress should play by the same rules as everybody else.

There's a solid core of support for the act in the Senate and no excuse not to pass this legislation. The House needs to follow suit. The legislation, which has languished for years, gained serious momentum last fall after a "60 Minutes" report drew attention to the issue. The venerable news program raised troubling questions about whether political leaders made stock purchases as they weighed legislation critical to certain industries. The arrogance fairly dripping from congressional leaders questioned about their big-bucks stock transactions -- among them, Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner -- should have dispelled any doubts about the law's necessity.

The legislation looked like it was headed to a quick House floor vote in December, but the juice behind it ran out quickly -- a situation some blamed on delaying tactics by Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Cantor, whose office has said previously that this criticism is unfair, provided a statement Wednesday in which he vowed to broaden the bill and bring it to a floor vote in the House in February.

Cantor's ideas for strengthening the legislation -- such as ensuring that safeguards cover the executive branch -- are welcome. But improvements to an already strong bill cannot be allowed to bog down this popular legislation. The bill has 271 cosponsors in the House. The votes are there to pass it.

Fortunately, the STOCK Act has long had a forceful champion in Minnesota's First District Rep. Tim Walz. The three-term Democratic congressman is the House bill's lead sponsor. On Wednesday, Walz and New York Democratic Rep. Louise Slaughter announced that they were pursuing a procedural maneuver to bring the bill up for a floor vote.

Walz should get plenty of help in moving the bill forward from his Minnesota colleagues. The state's Democratic delegation is among the House bill's long list of supporters. Rep. Erik Paulsen, the lone Minnesota Republican cosponsor, signed on in early December.

The growing appetite for this legislation in an election year isn't surprising, but it is welcome. Ethics issues still have power and saliency with the electorate. "Now that it's getting sunlight, that will trigger action," said Meredith McGehee, policy director of the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center.

While the main mission is to keep the act moving forward without substantially weakening it, Congress should also leverage this momentum to enact other safeguards. The Senate is weighing an amendment that would speed up the Senate's campaign finance disclosure process by requiring this information to be filed electronically. There's also growing support for an anti-corruption amendment that would strengthen federal prosecutors' ability to pursue politicians who seek compensation for wielding their influence.

Both measures are worthy additions to the STOCK Act. Passage of all three won't cure the congressional trust deficit, but it's a healthy start.