EXCLUSIVE – A Pennsylvania Republican has informed the House Ethics Committee of new restraints he has placed on his financial advisers regarding his stock portfolio.

In a letter to Ethics Chairman Michael Guest (R-MS), obtained exclusively by the Washington Examiner, Rep. Rob Bresnahan’s (R-PA) lawyer stated that the congressman has placed two guardrails for his advisers to follow while managing his stock trades. 

Recommended Stories

• Republican ad campaign to slam vulnerable Democrats over 'big, beautiful bill'
• Ron Klain, former Biden chief of staff, testifies in House Oversight autopen investigation
• Al Green renews calls for impeachment against Trump 

Bresnahan prohibited his advisers from investing in companies based in, or owned by, countries that are adversaries of the United States, including any funds, such as a mutual or exchange-traded fund, with significant foreign investments. He also forbade using funds to short sell, or “bet against” U.S. companies. 

“Other than these guiding principles, third-party advisors – and not Rep. Bresnahan – have complete discretion over the selection, and the timing of acquisition and sale, of any assets whatsoever,” Steve Roberts, a partner at Lex Politica, stated in the letter dated July 17. 

PENNSYLVANIA GOP FRESHMAN EYES NEXT FIGHT AFTER MEDICAID WIN

Roberts wrote in the letter that Bresnahan is not consulted about any trade, and is only looped in on the purchase or sale of a stock after it is complete, as federal law requires.

The first-term Republican has been in hot water over his stock trading since he took office in January, notably during the launch and subsequent pause of President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs in April and after selling stock in Centene, a large healthcare company providing Medicaid coverage across multiple states, ahead of the House’s first passage of the “big, beautiful bill.”

From April 2 to April 8, when Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs were started and then paused, Bresnahan traded at least 180 stocks, according to the congressional stock trader tracker insiderfinance.io. Several lawmakers’ trades during the seven-day period have been under severe scrutiny over ethics concerns. 

Over the last six months, Bresnahan has reported 535 stock trades, according to the site Capitol Trades, as of July 24. He has filed 14 periodic transaction reports since the start of his term, detailing which stocks have been bought or sold with his funds, including stocks in Northrop Grumman Corporation, Netflix, Inc., and Tesla, Inc., among others.

Bresnahan is adamant that his financial managers handle all of his stock trading, telling the Washington Examiner during an interview that he doesn’t know “how much is traded until the [periodic transaction reports] are actually generated.”

“I want the people in my district to know that I am not beholden to any other specific industry or entity, the people that control my voting card are the 765,000 people of northeastern Pennsylvania,” Bresnahan continued.  

Still, Democrats have heavily criticized Bresnahan over his stock trading, with Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Eli Cousin accusing the House Republican of breaking public trust.

“Even for Rob Bresnahan, dumping stock in a Medicaid provider before voting for the largest cuts to Medicaid in history marks a cruel and stunning new low,” Cousin’s July 3 statement read. “Bresnahan has fully broken the public trust by not just breaking his promises not to cut Medicaid and not to trade in Congress, but by potentially profiting from his perch. He will be a one-term Congressman.”

Bresnahan has been in office for less than a year after flipping a blue seat in November by beating incumbent Rep. Matt Cartwright. The GOP freshman, in part, campaigned on banning congressional stock trading and introduced the Transparency in Representation through Uniform Stock Trading Ban (TRUST) Act in May. 

Along with introducing the legislation, Bresnahan pledged to work with the House Ethics Committee to enact a blind trust for his personal holdings. 

Concerns over his stock trading have also reached home, with the Times Leader, a local newspaper in Northeastern Pennsylvania, calling Bresnahan to “stop all trading until the blind trust is final.”

For Bresnahan, representing a purple district in Pennsylvania that includes Scranton, former President Joe Biden’s hometown, local support could be pivotal to his reelection chances in 2026.

However, entering into a qualified blind trust, which has to be approved by the Ethics Committee, has proven difficult.

Entering into a trust can also take up to eight months to a year, according to the lawmaker. Bresnahan’s office told the Washington Examiner that, while conversations about entering a qualified blind trust are ongoing, the restrictions placed on the agreement are a roadblock to finalizing the trust, and it may not be a viable avenue.

“The whole process has been excruciating,” Bresnahan said, specifically pointing to concerns he has that entering a qualified blind trust would not allow him to establish the parameters outlined in the July 17 letter. 

Based on the Ethics Committee guidance, the Pennsylvania Republican would have to assign an independent trustee to make financial decisions for him, instead of his current advisers, who Bresnahan said have worked for him for about two decades.

The requirements established by the Ethics Committee recently ruffled the feathers of Rep. Tom Kean (R-NJ) as well, who, similar to Bresnahan, directed his advisers not to invest in companies with ties to foreign adversaries and not to short the stocks of U.S. companies, according to the New Jersey Globe.

Concerns over congressional stock trading have persisted for years, despite the 2012 passage of the STOCK Act, which required lawmakers to catalog trades over $1,000 in public reports within 45 days.

Support on Capitol Hill to ban lawmakers from stock trading has grown in recent years, with members on both sides of the aisle having been accused of insider trading over the years.

House GOP and Democratic leaders have also expressed support for a ban, with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) saying he was in favor because he didn’t think Congress “should have any appearance of impropriety here.”

CONGRESSIONAL STOCK TRADING BAN FOSTERS RARE BIPARTISANSHIP

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) stated he supported banning members of Congress from trading stock in April, saying that until it happens, Democrats would “have to continue to highlight why this is problematic.”

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), whose large stock trades have been scrutinized, said in 2022 that she would be “OK” with a ban if there was enough support for one, despite previously opposing such a measure.