Illustration: Steve Brodner
Read also: The rest of this special report, a note on sourcing, and MoJo‘s daily political coverage.
What if members of Congress were seated not by party but according to the industries which gave them the most money over their entire careers?
The Senate: Lawyers, Drugs, and Money
SECTOR | # OF MEMBERS
Finance, insurance, and real estate 57
Lawyers and lobbyists 25
Health 5
Agribusiness 3
Labor 2
Energy and natural resources 2
Miscellaneous business 2
Communications and electronics 1
No money raised 3
Total seats | 100
Terms: 2 (9 in House) Total raised: $62.2 million, 27% from finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) Top donors: A major defender of Wall Street interests before the crash, Schumer has netted more big bank money than any member of Congress who hasn’t run for president. |
Terms: 1 Total raised: $17 million, 7% from FIRE Top donors: In the special election to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat, Brown’s biggest donors were Fidelity Investments, Bain Capital (Mitt Romney’s old firm), and Credit Suisse. But—whoops!—he voted for the financial regulation bill. |
Terms: 5 Total raised: $37.2 million, 14% from FIRE Top donors: The top Senate Republican’s most generous contributors have been US Smokeless Tobacco—now part of Altria, née Philip Morris—and Brown-Forman, the maker of Jack Daniel’s. Cheers! |
Terms: 4 (2 in House)Total raised: $35.4 million, 17% from lawyers and lobbyists Top donors: 5 out of the majority leader’s top 10 lifetime donors are casinos or gambling interests. The industry has bet more than $1.7 million on him, plus $1.3 mil on fellow Nevada Sen. John Ensign. |
Terms: 3 (5 in House) Total raised: $75.3 million, 7% from lawyers and lobbyists Top donors: Boxer is Hollywood’s favorite member of Congress (aside from Sen. John Kerry). Her second-biggest donor is Time Warner; Disney is sixth. |
Terms: 2 (4 in House) Total raised: $31.8 million, 12% from agribusiness Top donors: The ranking member of the ag committee has never met a federal farm subsidy he didn’t like. He just happens to be Congress’ second-most bountiful recipient of agribusiness cash. |
Terms: 4 (4 in House) Total raised: $16.2 million, 13% from energy and natural resources Top donors: Inhofe, who’s declared that “man-induced global warming is an article of religious faith,” has received more money from Koch Industries than any other company. The oil firm has given nearly $25 million to climate-change denial groups. |
The House: Big Labor vs. Big Money
SECTOR | # OF MEMBERS
Labor 159
Finance, insurance, and real estate 159
Health 26
Agribusiness 23
Lawyers and lobbyists 20
Miscellaneous business 18
Energy and natural resources 10
Defense 7
Transportation 6
Communications and electronics 4
Construction 1
Unfilled seats 2
Total seats | 435
Terms: 21 Total raised: $10.8 million, 21% from labor Top donors: The chair of the appropriations committee and a subcommittee with oversight of labor matters, is the House’s second-biggest recipient of union cash. Obey’s retiring in the face of a challenge from Real World star Sean Duffy. |
Terms: 12 Total raised: $11.9 million, 19% from FIRE Top donors: Sure, her husband is a major real estate investor, but the biggest all-time donor to the speaker (who has her own Napa vineyard) has been California wine giant E&J Gallo. |
Terms: 5 Total raised: $17.3 million, 24% from FIRE Top donors: The top donor to the GOP whip, a leading opponent of cap-and-trade legislation, is Dominion Resources, a Virginia power company. |
Terms: 1 Total raised: $6.4 million, 25% from FIRE Top donors: The freshman rep, a former Goldman Sachs veep, now collects campaign checks from the firm—more than any other House member. Financial regulation vote: Yes. |
Terms: 7 Total raised: $50.5 million, 3% from FIRE Top donors: GIs, meet geeks. The small-government libertarian’s biggest givers are members of the military, followed by Google and Microsoft employees. |
Terms: 13 Total raised: $17.2 million, 19% from energy and natural resources Top donors: Barton, who decried the “shakedown” of BP, has watched the cash flow from Anadarko Petroleum, owner of 25% of BP’s Deepwater Horizon well. |
Terms: 17 Total raised: $8.3 million, 17% from defense Top donors: The Armed Services Committee chair is—surprise!— Congress’ top recipient of defense-industry cash. |
