Delaney and Bresnahan Congressional Biotech Bets Raise Eyebrows as PELOSI Act Gains Momentum

While Americans grapple with inflation and Washington continues to promise to make lives better for all Americans, members of Congress appear to be playing a different game—one that looks more like Wall Street than public service. Recent financial disclosures reveal that two members of the House Agriculture Committee’s Conservation, Research, and Biotechnology subcommittee—April McClain Delaney (D-MD) and Rob Bresnahan (R-PA)—purchased shares in biotech firms while actively shaping related legislation, pointing to a troubling pattern of financial entanglement between lawmakers and the industries they regulate.

Bresnahan, a Republican representing Pennsylvania, disclosed a purchase of up to $15,000 worth of Bio-Techne stock through a JP Morgan brokerage account on February 25, 2025. Meanwhile, McClain Delaney made two similar transactions in April of the same stock, also amounting to up to $15,000 in each instance, with purchases on April 8 and April 28. Delaney also made three purchases of up to $15,000 each for biotech firm IDEXX Laboratories March 31, April 3, and April 6. The timing is more than coincidental, as both legislators serve on a subcommittee that holds sway over the “National Biotechnology Initiative Act of 2025,” introduced on April 9, just one day after one of Delaney’s biotech stock buys.

As this bill moves through Congress with bipartisan support, it proposes a sweeping overhaul to how biotech initiatives are funded and governed at the federal level. With both lawmakers now financially invested in the outcome, it raises a critical question: are they serving their districts or their portfolios? Such conflicts of interest are precisely why critics have long called for stricter rules on congressional stock trading—rules that, until now, have faced stiff resistance from entrenched political elites.

That resistance may soon be put to the test. On April 28, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) reintroduced the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act, which would bar members of Congress—and their spouses—from trading or holding individual stocks. Named with pointed irony, the act addresses what many see as a bipartisan failure of ethical governance. The PELOSI Act would force lawmakers to divest or place assets into blind trusts, allowing only diversified mutual funds, ETFs, or U.S. Treasury securities during their time in office. Lawmakers who don’t comply within 180 days would be subject to financial penalties and forfeiture of profits.

With President Trump publicly stating he would sign the bill into law, momentum for reform is building. But the question remains: will those with the most to lose—those currently trading stocks in industries they influence—stand in the way of restoring public trust?

Article by multiple RFHC contributors, based upon information from U.S. Senate press release and financial disclosure reports

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