I bet you thought insider trading was illegal for everyone. You would be wrong.

Members of Congress — including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) — have raked-in millions of dollars on stock trades that would land anyone else in prison.

They take advantage of insider knowledge, gained through their positions of power, to buy or sell shares as it may benefit them financially.

You or I would be in prison. They not only get away with it, they make millions of dollars doing it. As of right now they’re effectively above the law.

But that may well soon change. Following national outrage, more than 138 members of Congress have signed-on to a bill that would make such insider trading illegal. The measure has bipartisan support and, unusually for a grid-locked Washington, has been put on the fast track for passage.

It’s called the “Stock Act” and it would explicitly ban members of Congress and staffers from profiting on non-public information gained through their work on Capitol Hill.

“We must make it unambiguous that this behavior is illegal,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).

“We should not be shielding Congress from laws that apply to other Americans,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).

Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) notes there hasn’t been one prosecution despite assurances that the SEC already has the power to handle such cases. He will support the legislation, joining an increasingly bipartisan coalition.

As for former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who it was revealed profited handsomely from insider trading? She now says she’ll support the bill. What serendipitous timing.