Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) demanded new House Democratic leadership after the lower chamber failed to pass a resolution prohibiting legislators from trading stocks.
Following a February directive from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) proposed the Combating Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government Act on Tuesday, which forbids top government officials and members of their families from trading stocks. But House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said the measure wouldn’t be put to a vote before the fall elections.
Spanberger, who first proposed legislation along these lines in early 2021, slammed Democratic leadership figures for delaying the bill’s passage through the voting process.
The Virginia Democrat then demanded a change in House leadership while accusing them of undermining the bill to prevent it from passing.
Spanberger has spent the last two years trying to persuade Americans that she is a moderate politician, which is why she has leveled such harsh criticism at Pelosi and other House Democrat leaders. She will nonetheless have a tough time winning reelection because recent polls indicate that Democrats may lose the lower house to the GOP.
Spanberger has previously suggested that her Democratic colleagues should look at other jobs if a prohibition on trading stocks was a deal-breaker for them. This is not the first time she has criticized members of her own party.
At a news conference on Friday, Pelosi dismissed Spanberger’s complaints by asserting that her proposals were already incorporated into Lofgren’s measure.
After purchasing 20,000 shares of semiconductor stocks worth up to $5 million just before the Senate was about to vote on a bill subsidizing computer chips this summer, the couple suddenly came under criticism. After coming under increasing public fire, Paul Pelosi ultimately decided to sell his shares at a loss.
The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012 mandates that lawmakers file periodic transaction reports within 30 to 45 days of any stock transactions exceeding $1,000 that they or their spouses engage in.
