🔥🔥Bombshell Report: Millionaire Pat Ryan took $60k in taxpayer funds for DC residence

U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan faces ethics complaint regarding his D.C. residence

The complaint by Ryan's opponent alleges his Washington residence functions as a primary residence despite his receipt of housing reimbursements

By Alexander MacDougall, Staff Writer
Sep 23, 2026

U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan, speaking in Newburgh on July 7. Ryan faces a challenge from Jackie Auringer in the midterm election for New York's 18th Congressional District.

ALBANY — U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan contends that a recent ethics complaint questioning whether his primary residence is in his Hudson Valley congressional district or in Washington, D.C., where the complaint alleges the Democrat’s children attend school, is a desperate attempt by his challenger to revive a struggling campaign.

The complaint was filed Tuesday by Jackie Auringer, Ryan’s Republican opponent in the upcoming election for New York’s 18th Congressional District. It alleges that Ryan’s residence in Washington, D.C., serves as a primary residence for him and his family, rather than Ryan’s home in New York, and that he’s improperly receiving housing reimbursements.

“Representative Ryan necessarily spends significant periods of time in Washington while performing his congressional duties. His wife works in federal government affairs,” the complaint states. “Most significantly, we have been informed by multiple sources that Representative Ryan’s children attend school in Washington, D.C.”

Ryan’s wife, Rebecca, works for the Greater New York Hospital Association analyzing federal policy and educating association members on federal policy changes, according to the association’s website.

The accusation centers on Ryan’s receipt of congressional housing reimbursements that are intended to make up for high living costs while working in Washington. According to House data, Ryan has received more than $60,000 in lodging reimbursements since 2023. The program has come under scrutiny since its implementation, with some House members wary of using taxpayer dollars to fund their own living expenses; many other House members, such as South Carolina Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, have taken full advantage of the program.

According to the House of Representatives Members' Congressional Handbook, “members whose primary residence is within 50 miles of the Capitol may not be reimbursed for lodging expenses except in extraordinary circumstances.” The handbook, however, makes no reference to what constitutes a primary residence or how to determine it, other than noting “a member’s primary duty station is their district.”

Members of Congress do not need to live within their congressional district, according to the U.S. Constitution. It says they only need to be an “inhabitant” of the state where their district is located. It’s unclear from the congressional handbook whether a “primary duty station” is distinct from a “primary residence.”

In a statement, Ryan denied the allegations, accusing his opponent of filing the ethics complaint as part of a campaign ploy.

“This is a desperate, politically motivated complaint that is false and without merit. I live in Gardiner, as I have every time I’ve been elected to serve our community,” Ryan said. “My opponent’s fixation and attempts to dox my 4- and 7-year-old children are beyond the pale and jeopardize their safety.”

After this story was published online, Ryan criticized the Times Union for reporting on the complaint. He declined to answer the question of whether his young children attend school in the Washington, D.C. area.

“I have not and will not ever talk about the personal situation of my children, given that we have had multiple threats to my family over the years,” he said. “I’m happy always to discuss policy, votes, views, myself and anything about me. … This is absolutely ridiculous.”

Ally Livingston, a spokeswoman for Ryan, said the lodging reimbursements “have been consistently reviewed and approved by the nonpartisan professionals” at the federal Office of the Chief Administrative Officer.

Dave Catalfamo, a spokesman for Auringer, said the only way to verify the lodging reimbursement receipts would be to have an audit.
“Member reimbursements are based on an honor system and there is no one verifying receipts,” Catalfamo said.

Ryan’s Gardiner residence in Ulster County is within his congressional district. According to Ulster County property records, that property receives a state tax exemption due to Ryan’s status as a military veteran; he served in combat during the Iraq War. That tax exemption is only available for primary residences of veterans, according to the state Department of Taxation and Finance.

The Auringer campaign, which contacted the Times Union about their ethics allegation, provided a photo that they claimed shows one of Ryan’s sons attending a school in Washington in June 2024. The Times Union could not independently verify where the photo was taken. On April 28, a video posted on social media by the outlet TMZ showed Ryan being interviewed while walking with his children in Washington, D.C.

“I’m away a lot, so we try to get them (the children) down here when we can,” Ryan says in the video.

The complaint was filed with the Office of Congressional Conduct as well as the House Ethics Committee, and calls for a review of Ryan’s monthly expense vouchers and any certifications Ryan submitted to obtain eligibility for the reimbursements.

“For most Americans, the common-sense understanding of a family’s primary residence is the place where the family actually lives,” the complaint states. “If Representative Ryan’s children attend school in Washington, D.C., while his family maintains its daily life there, that raises an obvious and important question about whether Washington is, in fact, his primary residence for purposes of the House reimbursement rule.”

Under House Ethics Committee rules, the complaint would not be reviewed until after November’s midterm election, since it was filed less than 60 days prior to Election Day. But the Office of Congressional Conduct, which reviews allegations of misconduct and can refer matters to the ethics committee, has no such restriction.

The complaint also asserts that the issue extends beyond Ryan’s case, and raises questions about whether the reimbursement program allows too many possibilities for abuse by circumventing the primary residence restriction.

“If a member whose family and primary residence are actually in the Washington area can receive taxpayer reimbursement for Washington housing simply by maintaining or identifying another residence elsewhere, the primary-residence restriction would provide little meaningful protection against abuse,” the complaint states.