Despite pledging to vote against a bill that cut Medicaid, Bresnahan voted for the U.S. House Budget framework that directed the House Energy and Commerce Committee to make $880 billion worth of cuts. It has been widely reported that House Republicans would have to cut Medicaid in order to achieve that goal. 25 percent, or more than 148,000 Pennsylvanians in Bresnahan’s district relied on Medicaid or CHIP for health insurance. Bresnahan also opposed the Inflation Reduction Act, which lowered prescription drug costs for more than 450,000 Pennsylvanians on Medicare.
Bresnahan has tried to have it both ways on DOGE. He has defended the Trump administration’s cuts while also claiming that he has had to clean up some of the Trump administration’s messes in his district. During a radio interview, Breshanan said: “there's some things that come out of, you know, out of Pennsylvania Avenue that just happen.” DOGE has forced mass layoffs in the Social Security Administration, longer wait times for beneficiaries, and caused frequent website crashes. More than 190,000 Pennsylvanians received Social Security benefits in Bresnahan’s district.
Bresnahan has also repeated a false DOGE talking point by claiming there were 185 year-olds still receiving Social Security benefits. Department of Government Efficiency claimed the Social Security Administration was paying 150 year-olds. The truth is that the Social Security Administration automatically terminates benefit payments to those 115 years-old or older. An inspector general report from July 2024 also found that incorrect payments accounted for less than one-percent of all Social Security benefit payouts, with most being overpayments to living people.
Bresnahan supported Trump’s tariffs and said he was “very excited and anxious to see what comes out” of them. Bresnahan also urged industries that were apprehensive about the tariffs to “rip the Band-Aid off” and “persevere.” Local businesses in PA-08 warned about rising costs that would be caused by tariffs and said they “wish[ed] it wasn’t happening.” The Hazleton school district was also trying to buy computers for students before Trump’s tariffs raised prices by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In March 2024, Bresnahan pledged to end congressional stock trading, if elected. However, by April 2025, he became one of the most active stock traders out of the 119th Congress’ freshman class. Bresnahan’s spokesperson attempted to brush off concerns by claiming Bresnahan used financial advisors to handle his stocks for him and that he did not trade them himself. When asked why he had yet to co-sponsor the bill to ban congressional stock trading, his spokesperson claimed he wanted to introduce his own bill. A month later, Bresnahan introduced a stock trading ban and pledged to form a blind trust.
Bresnahan Voted For The Largest Medicaid Cut In History
Bresnahan Tries To Play Both Sides On DOGE
Bresnahan Supported Trump's Tariffs Over Pennsylvanians
Bresnahan Broke His Own Pledge To Ban Congressional Stock Trading