U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, a first-term Republican, has become the most active trader in Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation even as he pushes to ban the practice. Like most Republicans, he sees himself as ... a victim! Via the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Despite introducing a House bill to ban congressional stock trading in May, Bresnahan has reported 617 stock trades totaling $7.24 million this year, according to investment research firm Quiver Quantitative. He’s placed roughly five times as many trades as the next most active trader in the delegation, freshman Republican Sen. Dave McCormick, a former CEO of Bridgewater, the world’s largest hedge fund.
Bresnahan flipped Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District in 2024 with a narrow 1.6 point win. It’ll be one of the most competitive seats in 2026 and Democrats are already pinning their hopes of retaking the seat to the escalating controversy surrounding the freshman lawmaker’s trades. Even some Republicans are expressing concern that Bresnahan’s stock trading could hamper his reelection prospects.
This spotlight won’t be going away anytime soon. Last month, a Senate committee advanced Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s bill to ban members of Congress from trading. And in Northeast Pennsylvania, an environmental group started airing TV ads on Thursday against Bresnahan on his trading.
What really stands out is what he said about trying to put his assets into blind trust in compliance with House Ethics rules:
But late last month, Bresnahan said moving his assets into a blind trust had proven too difficult under House Ethics Committee Rules, and rejected the idea of directing his financial advisers to stop trading in the interim. The multimillionaire told Scranton-area radio station WVIA he would risk “going broke” if he stopped trading, a comment that has sparked renewed criticism.
“And then do what with it?” Bresnahan told WVIA. “Just leave it all in the accounts and just leave it there and lose money and go broke?”
Bresnahan has repeatedly stated that he does not trade his own stocks. “I think you need to know that the trades are being executed on my behalf. I do not have any dialogues with my financial advisers,” Bresnahan said in response to a question during a June 10 telephone town hall.
Well, let's see. Suppose he put his $43 million net worth into index funds, which in the short run would pay an average of 6%. Right now, over 10 years, you'd make 11.3%.
And since he insists he doesn't trade his own stocks (he's a Republican, he wouldn't lie!), he wouldn't have to think about his money at all if he put it in index funds. It would keep making money!
But maybe, like most gamblers, Bresnahan just lives for the high of the Big Score. Or maybe he's just a big fat liar, who wants to have his cake and eat it, too.
