Democrat Calls for New House Leadership Over Lawmaker Stock Trading Ban Delay

Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) called for new House leadership on Friday after top Democrats delayed a vote on legislation that would ban members of Congress from trading stocks. 

Lawmakers have negotiated for months over the details of the stock trading ban, culminating this week with the introduction of the “Combatting Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government Act.” However, the House was scheduled to go on recess on Friday for the midterm elections, meaning lawmakers would have had less than a week to vote on the bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has been criticized over her family’s stock trading, said earlier in September that House Democrats believed they had “a product that we can bring to the floor this month.”

Spanberger faces a tight reelection race in November and will not likely see progress on the stock trading bill before Election Day. “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,” the congresswoman said in a statement. 

Coverage was prominently featured in some outlets, particularly D.C.-focused outlets, but apparently absent from others. Fox News (Right bias) framed the story around Pelosi, a longtime target of Republican criticism, saying she “failed to bring up legislation before the midterms.”