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TechnoratiReport: 237 Millionaires in Congress
Talk about bad timing.
![[CRP says California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa is the richest lawmaker on Capitol Hill, with a net worth estimated at about $251 million.]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/issa.jpg "issa.jpg")
As Washington reels from the news of 10.2 percent unemployment, the Center for Responsive Politics is out with a new report describing the wealth of members of Congress.
Among the highlights: Two-hundred-and-thirty-seven members of Congress are millionaires. That's 44 percent of the body - compared to about 1 percent of Americans overall.
CRP says California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa is the richest lawmaker on Capitol Hill, with a net worth estimated at about $251 million. Next in line: Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), worth about $244.7 million; Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), worth about $214.5 million; Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), worth about $209.7 million; and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), worth about $208.8 million.
All told, at least seven lawmakers have net worths greater than $100 million, according to the Center's 2008 figures.
"Many Americans probably have a sense that members of Congress aren't hurting, even if their government salary alone is in the six figures, much more than most Americans make," said CRP spokesman Dave Levinthal. "What we see through these figures is that many of them have riches well beyond that salary, supplemented with securities, stock holdings, property and other investments."
The CRP numbers are somewhat rough estimates - lawmakers are required to report their financial information in broad ranges of figures, so it's impossible to pin down their dollars with precision. The CRP uses the mid-point in the ranges to build its estimates.
Senators' estimated median reportable worth sunk to about $1.79 million from $2.27 million in 2007. The House's median income was significantly lower and also sank, bottoming out at $622,254 from $724,258 in 2007.
But CRP's analysis suggests that some lawmakers did well for themselves between 2007 and 2008, even as many Americans lost jobs and saw their savings and their home values plummet.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) gained about $9.2 million. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) gained about $3 million, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) had an estimated $2.6 million gain, and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) gained about $2.8 million.
Some lawmakers have profited from investments in companies that have received federal bailouts; dozens of lawmakers are invested in Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.
Among executive branch officials, CRP says the richest is Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary L. Schapiro, with a net worth estimated at $26 million.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is next, worth an estimated $21 million. President Barack Obama is the sixth-wealthiest, worth about an estimated $4 million. Vice President Joe Biden has often tagged himself as an original blue collar man. The CRP backs him up, putting his net worth at just $27,000.
He's hardly the worst off.
Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), freshman Rep. Harry Teague (D-N.M.), Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.), Rep. John Salazar (D-Colo.) and Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) each a net worth of less than zero, CRP says.
One caveat on those numbers: Federal financial disclosure laws don't require members to list the value of their personal residences. That information could alter the net worth picture for many lawmakers.
Even so, Levinthal said, "It is clear that some members are struggling financially.
"Over a calendar year, one's wealth can change drastically. Many peoples' investments took a nose dive over night in the last year," he said.
A number of lawmakers are estimated to have suffered double-digit percentage lossed in their net worth from 2007 to 2008. The biggest losers include Kerry, who lost a whopping $127.4 million; Warner lost about $28.1 million; Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) lost about $11.8 million; and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) lost about $10.1 million.
35 Comments so far
Show AllAh yes. Our honest and true blue representative of the small investors on Wall Street, Shapiro of the SEC, is only worth 27 million (not counting the real estate). She didn't like Bernie Madoff callling her a "dear friend" recently. I'm sure Mr YES WE CAN deliberated long and hard to name her to the SEC...No one could imagine that SHE is going to cover up the fraud and larceny...
"237 Millionaires in Congress."?
The ruling elites errand boys!
How fast can you spell Plutocracy?
Now I need to go back and study the French Revolution.
Anyone have any suggestions?
Susan Collins, the so-called "moderate" Right-Wing-Republican from Maine, entered the Senate with very little financial assets. Somehow, she has accumulated $50,000,000.00 (Fifty Million Dollars) of wealth during her 13 years in the Senate.
I imagine she must have been working nights at McDonald's to supplement her meager Senate salary. How else could she have accumulated so much cash while working full-time for her constituents?
because millionaires know what its like to be at the bottom rung.
hell, i can barely afford to keep my head above water, but they know what im going through right?
I'm so sure these people are really in tune with all of us dupes.
Are we sheeple, or donkeys? What kind of fools would elect millionarires to represent them in their nations capital? Idiots that swallow the teevee bullshit that places wealth on a pedestal, that stares at billboards touting powerball riches, that drools at sluts reading the 6 o'clock news in pancake makeup and cleavage?
We need climate change, planet cleanse, armageddon for Gaia, and now...
Sweep the sick species, human beings, off the sphere, get on with beauty, peace, and a wealth of diversity, sans the jive...
The guillotine rid France of about 2000-2500 aristocrats--a very small price to pay for empowering the middle and working classes. I say we bring it out of mothballs.
There should be more with all the corruption going on.The insurance companies probably made most of the. The Military contract made others. Haliburton also had a big hand in it. The weak Attorney General should be going after these people from both ends. Bribery is the order of the day.
Yes, bribery is the order of the day---but we have the power to change this. Our elected officials are representing those who pay the most to buy their votes. This is not democracy, this is fascism. You can easily rate your Representative's level of corruption by checking the voting record on three recent votes of the Congress. The three are: the bankster bailout, the 'surge' in Afghanistan, and the passage of a health care 'reform' that keeps the for profit insurance companies in charge of our health care system and gives these corporations government funds to increase their profit level. On these three issues the people clearly advised their representatives to vote no on the bailout, no on surge and yes on HR 676, Medicare for all, Single Payer.
Check the record, and if your rep voted with the money and against the will of the constituents, that person must be removed from office. Don't vote for that person again. They can take all the money from the corporations---but they still need our votes. Don't vote for a person you know to be corrupt. Kick them out of Congress and open up the elections to new candidates, new political parties and independent candidates. We need a clean sweep of Congress to really bring democracy to our nation.
this means public funding of elections still means nothing
because people like this still are going to look out for
themselves and the banksters and all their financial peers so just by funding public elections we do nothing to fix
the root problem. its the type of monsters that are
attracted to politics today that is probably going to
mean the end of all of us. if you listen to sibel edmunds
talk in the video here you will find out that the bribery
and off shore bank accounts that these folks engage in
aren't anything they will give up. this is why they go
to dc. the people engaged in the bailout had money to
protect if the banks were seized. they don't care if you
lose your money they aren't losing theirs. remember first
and foremost that washington is the place to steal in
america. unlike any other place in the us there you
can do it legally!
Joe Biden a BLUE COLLAR GUY?? My fat ass!!! This guy and the rest of the "few poor" in Congress have something you and I don't have and that is THE BEST HEALTH CARE PLAN FOR FREE!!! YES, WE, YOU AND ME, PAY FOR THEIR HEALTH INSURANCE!! fuckers!
It's a good health care plan but it's not free.
Our taxes pay their salaries too, but that's not the point.
Pay attention to the article. Net worth 27 thousand.
Compared to Kerry's 208 million that makes him pretty much a regular guy.
"Joe" is far from the "regular guy" from Scranton that he pretends to be.
"Regular guys" don't have waterfront homes in Greenville, Delaware, whose neighbors are the heirs to the dupont company chemical fortune.
THIS is one glaring reason why "We the People" don't get heard! When are any of you "regular people" out there going to run???
Since you bear his name, what's Dennis' net worth? Any idea?
"When are any of you "regular people" out there going to run???"
Are you not a regular person? Why don't you run?
Your aggressive tone does nothing to solve the real problems involved in fielding a candidate and getting him or her elected. Step one - mutual respect as we explore the possibilities.
Joe
There's a discussion of this on the article "Why I Voted No." by Kucinich here on CD
I wonder how many became millionaires in office.
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
Believe me, the millionaires are frothing at the mouth to become billionaires by the taxpayers money, they figure they are due.
But on the other hand if they are not already millionaires or are not able to accumulate millions while serving in congress how will they help the poor and the unworthy? Like Brother Ike used to say to his exclusive flock of millionaires “how will you help others if you don’t have millions?” A perfectly valid argument.
Alcee Hastings (D-FL) went from $7.5 million in the hole to only $2.1 million in the hole!!!! How does one get to be a congressman owing $7.5 million?
When you factor in race, gender and wealth, the composition of our Senate and Congress would be preposterously improbable in a fair system. Too white, too rich, too male and too disconnected from the needs of the ordinary person.
Joe
So much for the argument that having rich people in congress avoids corruption.
Greed is the super-corrupt elite's gateway emotion.
Yes, it's also true that some of them aren't whores because they are more like pimps or the madame in a whore house. There is, of course, a heirarchy in the culture of corruption.
At any rate, the only madame that should be in congress is Madame DeFarge. She has lots of work to do there...
Maybe this Issa will help his poor comrades.
$251 million would make me a nice guy.
I believe any member of Congress with an income over $100,000 should be required to live on $800 per month (SSI) for all expenses (shelter, food, dental...etc) and have access to Medicare for health coverage for a period of 1 year with no other (supplemental) income to cover their asses.
I cannot relate one iota to experiencing losing millions in investments let alone "struggling to live" on an annual income over $1 million.
Some years ago one of the contestants on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" spoke of how winning $1 million dollars affected his life. Happiness-nope. It was primarily the ability to have financial choices where previously one choice meant forgoing other choices.
It is sickeningly pathetic that the leaders (or is it the "prostitutes"?) of the "richest" nation in the world can afford perpetual war and finds it impossible to provide even basic health and medical care (including dental, auditory, vision...etc) for every person.
I feel sorry for them. Here they are with only millions and free health care for life paid for by our tax dollars.
Good thing that they don't have to worry their puny little brains about others.
Single payer or single term.
Public Option is not an option.
PS - I'm not saying they are dumb. After all, who is in power. Even George Bush, with all the stupid, ignorant and deadly things he did; is still a free man and a hero among his base. I'm talking about the democrats who took impeachment off the table, just like they took single payer health care off the table. It all benefits thugs like Bush and the power elite. You have to ask yourself who are the dumb ones?
It's not that "we" are necessarily dumb. Just powerless.
Failed People = Failed government
Agreed aussiedawg. We need a rebellion and we don't know how to do one.
In general when such a question is raised, several people will chime in with their favorite know-it-all simplistic answers. That is part of the problem. We are a childish people that wants immediate gratification. Observing, listening, making judgements about what to expect, synthesizing, planning and convincing others are required. As they used to sing in South Africa "A heavy load, a heavy load, and it will take some real work".
I am not saying I know how either, but admitting it is the first step.
Joe
Why not take over one of the parties? The Democrats seem more vulnerable because their hypocrisy is more evident.
I mean you can't run against a Republican by saying we want fewer millionaires in government. But you can make that argument against a Democrat.
Tap into the rage out there. It's bipartisan and everyone's pissed about the same things: War(s). Unemployment. Rich Corps controlling our lives. Government without representation.
Run for office. Forget the 'power' of the msm, use the Internet.
It's the only way we will be able to change anything that will get results in the short term.
President Lincoln, sir, we feel that it is time to update your very fine "Gettysberg Adress" to reflect where our country finds itself today. All we need to do is just to change one word three times in the last sentence of your speech to bring it up to date.
"...and that government: of the Rich, by the Rich, for the Rich, shall not perish from the earth."
There, all set. Thank you for your consideration in this matter sir, may you rest in peace.
A while back, President Bush and the Retardicans politically eviscerated certain Dimocrats for having visited Syria, one of those awful countries.
Where was Mr. Issa when the Dims were being accused of this treasonous behavior?
thinkprogress.org/2007/04/05/breaking-republican-congressman-darrell-issa-currently-in-syria-for-talks/
Mr. Issa made a fortune in the car alarm business.
The Dims ran an awful candidate in this district last year, knowing that it was hopeless anyway.
The symbolism in Issa's business, car alarms, is thicker than molasses.
I have the same thing to say to MY representative Mr. Issa that Pat Tillman's father said to him:
(this was when Mr. Issa was being his usual loyal BushTeam member and helping to stifle any meaningful Congressional investigation into why, for example, the US government and military kept lying and covering up what happened to Pat Tillman).
"Get away from me."
"Representative"