Representative Rob Bresnahan Jr. of Pennsylvania built his campaign on a promise to ban stock trading by lawmakers. Yet since arriving in Washington in January, the Republican freshman has become the second-most-active trader in Congress, executing at least 626 trades in just a few months, according to Capitol Trades. Now, his financial dealings are under intense scrutiny after he cashed out healthcare-related investments just as he cast votes to gut Medicaid.
On March 27, Bresnahan sold between $100,001 and $250,000 in bonds issued by the Allegheny County Hospital Development Authority for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The sale came immediately after a report identified ten rural hospitals in Pennsylvania at risk of closure, and only weeks after he voted for a House budget resolution paving the way for massive cuts to the federal safety net.
The law signed last month by President Donald Trump, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, slashes $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade. Analysts project that between 10 and 15 million Americans will lose their health coverage as a result. More than 700 hospitals across the country, especially in rural areas, are likely to shut down.
Bresnahan also sold up to $15,000 of stock in Centene Corporation, the nation’s largest Medicaid plan provider, on May 15. When Trump signed the bill on July 4, Centene’s stock plummeted 40 percent. The timing has drawn sharp criticism, with opponents arguing that Bresnahan protected his personal finances while exposing his constituents to devastating service cuts.
“Congressman Bresnahan didn’t just vote to gut Pennsylvania hospitals. He looked out for his own bottom line before doing it,” said Leor Tal, campaign director for Unrig the Economy. “Hospitals across Pennsylvania could close thanks to his vote, forcing families to drive long distances and experience longer wait times for critical care.” Tal added pointedly, “Not everyone has a secret helicopter they can use whenever they want,” referencing reports that Bresnahan, a multimillionaire, owns a helicopter worth up to $1.5 million through a private company.
Bresnahan has repeatedly insisted he would not vote to cut the safety net, yet he ultimately voted for the deepest Medicaid cuts in U.S. history. His prolific trading, critics say, exposes a fundamental breach of trust. “His prolific stock trading is more than just a broken promise,” said Eli Cousin, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “It’s political malpractice and a scandal of his own making.”
The congressman has attempted to deflect the backlash by pointing to legislation he introduced in May that would bar members of Congress from buying or selling stocks while in office. But the bill would not take effect until 2027 and allows lawmakers to keep holdings owned before taking office in blind trusts. The proposal has drawn no co-sponsors.
At the same time, Bresnahan announced he was beginning the process of setting up a blind trust for his own assets but quickly complained that the House Ethics Committee was blocking him. “The ethics process is prehistoric, and it’s downright excruciating,” he told WVIA News. He argued that members from private-sector careers are left “in a bind” if they want to serve in Congress. But he balked at the idea of simply halting his trades. “And then do what with it?” he asked. “Just leave it all in the accounts and just leave it there and lose money and go broke?”
Even as criticism mounted, Bresnahan continued trading. Only recently, as scrutiny intensified, has his activity slowed. It has been more than a month since he filed a new periodic transaction report. His spokeswoman, Hannah Pope, dismissed questions about the trades as an “obsession” and claimed his financial adviser manages the portfolio without his input, with Bresnahan learning of trades at the same time the public does.
National polling shows over 80 percent of voters support banning lawmakers from trading individual stocks. Yet despite bipartisan proposals to impose such restrictions, reform has stalled. Bresnahan’s own bill stands in contrast to stricter bipartisan measures requiring full divestment or blind trusts.
The controversy is reshaping the political landscape in Pennsylvania. Democrats are eager to make his trading record the centerpiece of next year’s midterms, with Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti expected to launch a campaign against him. Democratic strategists have called his stock portfolio “an opposition researcher’s dream.” Advocacy groups like the NRDC Action Fund have already launched a six-figure ad campaign targeting him, highlighting how he voted to repeal clean energy tax credits after selling off clean energy stocks and buying fossil fuel holdings. “He made out like a bandit,” the ad declares. “Tell Rob to stop trading stocks in Washington.”
Republicans, meanwhile, have tried to defend him. The House GOP campaign arm dismissed the focus on stock trades as “desperate Democrats’ false attacks to distract.” But even some Republicans concede privately that Bresnahan’s trades could hurt him in a competitive swing district that will be key to maintaining their narrow majority.
For constituents in Pennsylvania’s rural areas, however, the issue is more than political. The Medicaid cuts Bresnahan supported could force hospital closures, leaving families to drive long distances for emergency care and endure longer waits for critical services. The congressman’s decision to offload healthcare investments just before casting those votes has amplified accusations that he is serving Wall Street before his district.
“The public should never have to question whether their elected officials are serving the public or their own portfolios,” Bresnahan said when he introduced his stock ban bill. But with his trades drawing mounting scrutiny, critics argue that very question now defines his time in Washington.
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