Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., on Friday released a statement saying "the Democratic Party needs new leaders" in Congress following a lack of progress on legislation to bar lawmakers from stock trading.
In a statement, Spanberger criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other top-ranking congressional Democrats over the lack of a vote on a bill to ban legislators from trading stocks. Spanberger has campaigned on the issue and was one of several Democrats hoping to put the subject up to a vote ahead of the midterm elections in November.
"This moment marks a failure of House leadership — and it's yet another example of why I believe that the Democratic Party needs new leaders in the halls of Capitol Hill, as I have long made known," Spanberger said in a statement, according to The Hill.
"Rather than bring Members of Congress together who are passionate about this issue, leadership chose to ignore these voices, push them aside, and look for new ways they could string the media and the public along — and evade public criticism," she said.
Spanberger went on to accuse House and Senate leaders of repeatedly delaying a vote on the legislation.
"For months, momentum grew in both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate to finally take a step towards prohibiting Members of Congress from day trading while on the job. We saw remarkable progress towards rectifying glaring examples of conflicts of interest. And after first signaling her opposition to these reforms, the Speaker purportedly reversed her position. However, our bipartisan reform coalition was then subjected to repeated delay tactics, hand-waving gestures, and blatant instances of Lucy pulling the football," she said.
Pelosi said during a press conference on Friday that Spanberger's "bill is in the bill" put forward by the House Administration Committee.
She added, "others had ideas too. And that's what the committee put forth. But it's good press because you asked a question."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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