Issa reports a Treasury note trade worth $5 million to $25 million as five other House members file new trades

By Rosalind Kerrow

WASHINGTON — Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., reported buying and then selling the same U.S. Treasury note within a week this month, each trade valued between $5,000,001 and $25,000,000, according to a periodic transaction report he filed with the House Clerk on Oct. 22.

The filing lists a purchase on Oct. 8 of a 3.375% Treasury note due Sept. 15, 2028, followed by a sale of the same note on Oct. 14. Issa’s notes on the form describe the purchase as a Treasury with “$10 million face value” and the sale as a “Sale of US Treasury Note before Maturity,” both in an investment account he owns outright.

Issa’s was the largest of six new periodic transaction reports House members filed between Oct. 19 and Oct. 22, the latest batch posted to the Clerk’s public disclosure database. Three came from Republicans and three from Democrats. Each of the six was filed within the 45-day window the STOCK Act allows after a trade.

House disclosures report values only in broad ranges, so the figures below are the ranges printed on each form, not exact amounts.

The new filings

Rep. Cleo Fields, D-La. Fields, who sits on the House Financial Services Committee, reported three purchases of Nvidia stock on Oct. 1, each between $1,001 and $15,000 and made in three separate E*Trade accounts: a personal account, an IRA and an account in the name of Fields Law Firm 2, LLC. He also reported buying Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing shares worth between $1,001 and $15,000 on Oct. 9. The report was signed Oct. 22.

Rep. Jonathan Jackson, D-Ill. Jackson’s Oct. 19 filing lists five trades on Sept. 28 in a jointly held Morgan Stanley trust account. He reported buying Datadog and Estée Lauder shares, each between $50,001 and $100,000, and Guardant Health shares worth between $15,001 and $50,000. In the same account he reported selling ViaSat and Walmart shares, each between $50,001 and $100,000. A separate sale of Tortoise Energy Infrastructure shares, worth between $1,001 and $15,000, came from his spouse’s rollover IRA on Sept. 4. That sale was reported 45 days later, the last day of the window. Jackson serves on the Agriculture and Foreign Affairs committees.

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn. Himes is the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and also sits on Financial Services. His Oct. 20 report shows a joint purchase on Sept. 29 of an interest in So Fine Foods LLC, a privately held company in Bethesda, Md., worth between $50,001 and $100,000. The filing describes the investment as a “Mandatorily convertible SAFE,” or simple agreement for future equity, a contract commonly used to fund early-stage companies.

Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio. Rulli, a member of the Energy and Commerce and Education and Workforce committees, reported two sales from a Merrill Lynch Roth IRA on Oct. 16: Alphabet Class C shares worth between $50,001 and $100,000, and WesBanco shares worth between $1,001 and $15,000. He filed the report three days later, on Oct. 19.

Rep. Rudy Yakym, R-Ind. Yakym, a Ways and Means Committee member, reported buying a six-week Treasury bill maturing Dec. 3, worth between $15,001 and $50,000, on Oct. 20. He filed the report the same day.

What the rules require

The STOCK Act of 2012 requires members of Congress to report most stock, bond and other securities trades worth more than $1,000 within 30 days of learning of them, and in no case more than 45 days after the trade. Government securities such as Treasury notes and bills are reportable on House forms, as are trades by spouses and dependent children. A filing that misses the deadline carries a $200 late fee under House rules. None of the reports described here was filed late on its face.

The disclosures do not show prices, share counts or whether a trade made or lost money.

Trading by members remains legal under current law. A House-passed bill to bar members, their spouses and dependent children from buying individual stocks, H.R. 7008, stalled in the Senate on Sept. 30 when a cloture vote on taking it up failed 53-47. According to the Congressional Research Service summary, that bill covers securities issued by publicly traded companies, so Treasury securities like those Issa and Yakym bought would not fall under its purchase ban.

Comment

The Inquisitor is seeking comment from the offices of all six members, from the Republican and Democratic press staff of the House Financial Services Committee, from the House Clerk’s Legislative Resource Center, which administers the filings, and from the nonpartisan research group OpenSecrets and the Campaign Legal Center. Most of the members’ offices accept press inquiries only by phone or web form. This story will be updated with any response.

The Inquisitor’s Stock Watch desk tracks every periodic transaction report filed with the House Clerk. Filings are linked to the original documents on the Clerk’s website. Senate filings, which are posted on a separate system, are reported only after they are checked against the original record.