Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) is a two-term congresswoman in a tight re-election battle for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District. Spanberger, like other Democrats in tight re-election races, wanted the Democrat leadership in the House to bring the Combatting Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government Act up for a vote before the recess. It has broad public support. It’s not going to happen and now Spanberger says this is just further proof that the Democrat House leadership needs an overhaul.

The Combatting Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government Act is a bill that bans members of Congress, federal judges, Supreme Court justices, the president, and others from trading stocks. It is an attempt to crack down on conflicts of interest in government. You may remember the kerfuffle back in July over questionable stock transactions by Paul Pelosi, husband of Nancy, in relationship to a vote concerning the semiconductor industry.

Well, Spanberger was hoping to avoid questions from constituents as to why Congress isn’t at least going to take a vote on the bill. Voters want more transparency from lawmakers. They are angered when they see lawmakers pushing bills that provide more transparency and less conflicts of interest aside.

The 26-page bill, titled the Combatting Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government Act, would ban a slew of government officials from trading or owning investments in securities, commodities, futures, cryptocurrency or other digital assets.

Those covered by the legislation include members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children, senior congressional staffers, the president, the vice president, political appointees, judicial officers — including Supreme Court justices and various judges — members of the Federal Reserve System’s Board of Governors and the president or vice president of a Federal Reserve bank.

Individuals subject to the ban would be required to divest their holdings or place them into a qualified blind trust.

The measure, however, does not pertain to investments in diversified mutual funds, U.S. Treasury bills, state or municipal government bills, notes or bonds and investment funds held as part of a federal, state or local government employee retirement plan, among other types of widely held, diversified and publicly traded investment funds.

So, when House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer confirmed there will not be a vote this week, before the recess begins, Spanberger exploded. Hoyer is reported to be against the stock ban bill. Spanberger sponsored a bill on this subject last year. When Congress leaves for recess on Friday, they are not scheduled to return until after the midterm elections in November. Spanberger wanted a win before the election.

“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.

“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 added.

Spanberger claimed that leadership engaged in “repeated delay tactics.”

“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 wrote.

Pelosi responded on Friday morning during a press conference.

Pelosi responded to Spanberger’s statement at a press conference on Friday, noting that the Virginia Democrat’s bill is included in the House Administration Committee’s legislation.

“Her bill is in the bill, others had ideas too. And that’s what the committee put forth,” the speaker told reporters. “But it’s good press because you asked a question.”

She also addressed the House’s failure to bring the measure to the floor, telling reporters “we have to have the votes to bring it up.”

Spanberger said the bill would have broad support in the House if the committee had not written it in such broad terms. She vows to “be dogged” in efforts to ban members from using their public service careers to enrish themselves in the stock market.

“As part of their diversionary tactics, the House Administration Committee was tasked with creating a new piece of legislation — and they ultimately introduced a kitchen-sink package that they knew would immediately crash upon arrival, with only days remaining before the end of the legislative session and no time to fix it,” she said.

“It’s apparent that House leadership does not have its heart in this effort, because the package released earlier this week was designed to fail. It was written to create confusion surrounding reform efforts and complicate a straightforward reform priority — banning Members of Congress from buying and selling individual stocks — all while creating the appearance that House Leadership wanted to take action,” she said.

Spanberger is running against Republican candidate Yesli Vega. Both the DCCC and the NRCC have prioritized this race. Their campaigns are being provided resources in hopes of victory in November. Flipping Spanberger’s seat would provide one more Republican victory in the anticipated red wave.