EXCLUSIVE — A watchdog group is calling for an investigation into a congressman whose wife bought stock in a major biopharmaceutical company before the Department of Health and Human Services, which the congressman oversees as a member of a key subcommittee, handed the company hundreds of millions of dollars.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s wife, Margaret D. Kirkpatrick, bought up to $15,000 worth of Amgen shares on Sept. 26, the Washington Examiner reported. Roughly one week later, the HHS announced it would spend $290 million for supplies of Amgen’s drug Nplate, which has resulted in Amgen’s stock skyrocketing in value.
But since Blumenauer sits on the health subcommittee for the Ways and Means Committee, there should be an investigation into whether he “violated” federal conflict of interest laws, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust alleged in a Monday complaint to the Office of Congressional Ethics that was obtained by the Washington Examiner.
“Given the information that they have access to, under the ethics rules, congressional members who sit on committees must meet a higher standard,” Kendra Arnold, executive director of FACT, told the Washington Examiner. “Every time the public sees a transaction like this, it causes them to question the motivation of our elected officials — something the ethics rules are specifically designed to prevent.”
The HHS said in October that it purchased Nplate, which is designed to treat blood cell injuries during nuclear and radiological fallout, to be prepared for potential national security threats stemming from the war in Ukraine and other conflicts. Since the agency’s Oct. 4 announcement, Amgen’s stock has increased in value by more than 22%.
The health subcommittee that Blumenauer sits on oversees the HHS and “handles legislation and oversight related to programs paying for health care, health delivery systems, or health research,” according to its website. Multiple watchdog groups previously told the Washington Examiner that Kirkpatrick’s Amgen stock buy looks suspicious since the subcommittee conducts HHS oversight.
FACT’s complaint cites how House ethics rules require members of Congress to “conduct themselves at all times in a manner that reflects creditably on the House” and not use their role for personal gain. The House Committee on Ethics, which makes determinations on whether members violated certain rules, defines a conflict of interest “as a situation in which an official’s private financial interests conflict or appear to conflict with the public interest,” according to its website.
“Blumenauer’s role on the subcommittee requires that a strict conflict of interest analysis applies because it involves direct oversight and a high degree of advocacy,” FACT said in its complaint to the OCE. “First, it is clear a conflict of interest exists in this case: Blumenauer (though his wife) directly owns stock in a company and this ownership affects his ability to oversee the HHS’s purchase of hundreds of millions of dollars of a drug from that same company.”
“Second, the timing of [Kirkpatrick’s] purchase of stock just eight days before HHS publicly announced its nearly $300 million dollar purchase from this company, which Blumenauer likely knew about beforehand due to his position on the subcommittee, demonstrates the OCE must determine whether Blumenauer used his official position for private gain,” the watchdog also said in its complaint.
FACT is asking OCE, which refers investigative matters to the Committee on Ethics, to “immediately investigate” whether Blumenauer “used information obtained from his official role on the Heath Subcommittee” and also “further violated conflict of interest laws with his role on the Health Subcommittee which can directly affect his personal financial interests.”
Kirkpatrick’s Amgen buy was made in her “retirement portfolio,” according to a financial disclosure. It is unclear if there were any communications between Blumenauer and Kirkpatrick about the HHS drug purchase prior to her stock trade. It is also unclear if Blumenauer was aware of the HHS drug purchase.
A spokesperson for Blumenauer did not respond to a request for comment.
“Unfortunately, the rules we operate under do not permit us to provide a comment,” a spokesman for the OCE told the Washington Examiner.
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This is not the first time Blumenauer has disclosed a well-timed trade in connection to the war in Ukraine.
On the same day Russia invaded Ukraine, Feb. 24, he disclosed 31 stock purchases, including up to $15,000 worth of Raytheon, a major defense contractor. The congressman’s office claimed that several purchases, including the Raytheon stock, were triggered accidentally.
“Due to a miscommunication, his financial advisers purchased some stock on his behalf,” a spokeswoman for Blumenauer told Insider in April. “When this was reported to him, he immediately ordered it sold (at a loss) and gave unequivocal direction that he should not hold any individual stock.”
