Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia blasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the House Majority Leader, Friday over the failure to pass legislation banning members of Congress from trading stock.
“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 released Friday.
Spanberger introduced the Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust in Congress Act on Jan. 15, 2021. The legislation has 71 co-sponsors, ranging from conservatives like Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Chip Roy of Texas, to liberals like Democratic Reps. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
Spanberger also posted a Twitter thread detailing her stance on the matter.
“For months, bipartisan momentum grew in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate to finally take a step towards prohibiting Members of Congress from day trading while on the job,” she began.
“We saw remarkable progress towards rectifying glaring 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,” she continued.
“Our job as elected officials is to serve the people — not ourselves. That’s why I’ve been proud to lead the charge on legislation — my bipartisan TRUST in Congress Act — to ban Members of Congress, their spouses, and their dependent children from trading individual stocks.”
“Since the early days of the pandemic, I have worked with lawmakers from both parties — and across the ideological spectrum — to earn their support for this bill. Our commonsense proposal demonstrated that Democrats and Republicans alike take this issue seriously,” she said, adding, “this moment marks a failure of House leadership.”
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