Congressional Wealth Grew by 13% Last Year

McClatchy News Service reported October 27 that the collective wealth of members of Congress grew by a healthy 13 percent during 2007, "...leaving them in better shape than most Americans to make it through an economic downturn, according to a new analysis of personal financial reports." Thirteen percent is pretty good, better than most Americans did I would say.

Nearly two thirds of U.S. senators are millionaires, according to McClatchy, citing a study by the Center for Responsive Politics, including Barack Obama and John McCain. The House of Representatives has a smaller percentage of millionaires, at 39 percent. This compares with 1 percent of ordinary Americans who can be classified as millionaires.

McClatchy quotes executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics Sheila Krumholz as saying, "With a median net worth of $746,000, most members of Congress have a comfortable financial cushion to ride out any recession."

McClatchy says members of congress "...had a total net worth of $3.7 billion last year. Although some are likely to take a hit from Wall Street's woes, their average net worth soared by 61 percent from 2004 to 2007."

Interestingly, McClatchy also found that 16 members of the House and 3 members of the Senate had a negative net worth. Now these guys / gals sound more like main street!

According to McClatchy, "Obama ranked as one of the biggest financial winners, with his net worth increasing from $800,000 in 2006 to $4.7 million last year, thanks mainly to royalties from his two best-selling books. McCain had a net worth estimated at $28.5 million, with most of the wealth attributed to his wife Cindy's family fortune."

Assessing Congressional wealth is difficult, the study says, because members' "...individual assets and liabilities are disclosed in broad ranges." McClatchy quotes Dan Auble of the Center for Responsive Politics as saying, "Members of Congress don't make it easy for the public to keep tabs on their personal holdings and any conflicts of interest those holdings present."

Top 10 from the Senate: 1) John Kerry; 2) Herb Kohl; 3) Ted Kennedy; 4) Jay Rockefeller; 5) Frank Lautenberg; 6) Dianne Feinstein; 7) Gordon Smith; 8) Olympia Snowe; 9) Claire McCaskill; and 10) Elizabeth Dole.

Top 10 from the House of Representatives: 1) Jane Harman; 2) Darrell Issa; 3) Robin Hayes; 4) Vern Buchanan; 5) Michael McCaul; 6) Nancy Pelosi; 7) Carolyn Maloney; 8) Rodney Frelinghuysen; 9) Nita Lowey; and 10) Gary Miller.