Revolt!
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SENATE WORST ATTENDANCE
Member: Mark Kirk (R-IL)
Votes missed: 75
%: 10.8
Member: Johnny Isaacson (R-GA)
Votes missed: 72
%: 10.4
Member: Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
Votes missed: 71
%: 10.3
Source: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/111/senate/vote-missers/
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HOUSE WORST ATTENDANCE
Member: J. Gresham Barrett (R-SC)
Votes missed: 696
%: 42.1
Member: Peter Hoekstra (R-MI)
Votes missed: 460
%: 27.8
Member: George Radanovich (R-CA)
Votes missed: 434
%: 26.2
Member: Zachary Wamp (R-TN)
Votes missed: 434
%: 26.2
Member: Pete Stark (D-CA)
Votes missed: 342
%: 20.7
Member: Bill Young (R-FL)
Votes missed: 319
%: 19.3
Member: Mary Fallin (R-OK)
Votes missed: 278
%: 16.8
Member: Bill Delahunt (D-MA)
Votes missed: 270
%: 16.3
Member: John Sullivan (R-OK)
Votes missed: 263
%: 15.9
Member: Linda Sanchez (D-CA)
Votes missed: 202
%: 15.8
Member: Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)
Votes missed: 253
%: 15.3
Member: Roy Blount (R-MO)
Votes missed: 252
%: 15.2
Member: John Lewis (D-GA)
Votes missed: 226
%: 13.7
Member: Steve Buyer (R-TN)
Votes missed: 221
%: 13.4
Member: John Conyers (D-MI)
Votes missed: 210
%: 12.7
Member: Gary Miller (R-CA)
Votes missed: 202
%: 12.3
Member: Mike Capuano (D-MA)
Votes missed: 202
%: 12.2
Member: Mark Kirk (R-IL)
Votes missed: 75
%: 10.8
Source: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/111/house/vote-missers/
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So, peruse the roll call votes every few weeks. In addition to providing the policy position of each of the members and showing attendance records, the voting records afford us an opportunity to see how very little they accomplish. Too much of their time is spent renaming post offices and courthouses and congratulating sports teams.
We’ve covered this ridiculous practice in our other books—Outrage (2007), Fleeced (2008), and Catastrophe (2009). It is a waste of time and resources as well as taxpayer money. If this inane custom cannot be stopped, then, at the very least, it should be confined to one calendar day a month.
Unfortunately, we don’t have statutory term limits in the United States, but we can certainly impose them ourselves. If our elected representatives won’t listen to us, won’t commit to us, won’t even meet with us, then let’s get rid of them and start all over again with people who understand what they are supposed to be doing in Washington. Because too many of the folks who are there now don’t have a clue.
That’s why they deserve to go. Many of them are self-serving, self-important, and self-indulgent people who don’t reflect the work ethic of this country and don’t even respect the voters who elected them. They spend a minimal amount of time working on legislation and maximize the time they spend campaigning and fund-raising—while they are on the public payroll! We’re constantly paying them to run for reelection.
Consider this: in January 2010, when the unemployment rate was close to 10%, there was absolutely no consideration of anything concerning jobs, unemployment, banking issues, or the economy. This is truly amazing. The country was in a monumental crisis and the Congress totally ignored the problems. Very little substantive work was accomplished. The House was in session for only seven days and the Senate was in session for five days. The average American worker showed up for work on twenty days during that same time period. And the average worker wasn’t paid the $174,000 that was paid to members of Congress. And on the days when the members did show up, they spent very little time doing actual work—sometimes mere minutes.
During the first week of the Second Session of the 111th Congress, in the week of January 12, the House considered one bill to override the president’s veto. It failed, as they knew it would. Aside from that, all of its other work concerned proclamations, renaming of post offices, and congratulations to sports teams and athletes. The only exception was a consideration of several Native American water rights bills and the creation of a national park in St. Croix.
During January 2010, the House was in roll call session for less than five hours over the course of seven days. Then they adjourned and held roll call votes on seven days in February.
Here’s some of what we are paying them over $174,000 to do.
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SCHEDULE
JANUARY 2010
January 1–11: no work
Tue 12: less than 10 minutes in session
Roll Call 1. Quorom call 7:07 p.m
61 members absent22
Wed 13: less than 40 minutes in session
Roll Call 2, 3:59 p.m. failed attempt to override the President’s appropriation veto:
44 absent,23 including Jerry Lewis, (R-CA) Ranking Member, Appropriations Committee and Reps. Kirk (R-IL), Crenshaw (R-Fl), and Wamp (R-TN), all members of the Committee that crafted the bill that was vetoed. But they didn’t have time to vote on the override!!
Roll Call 3. 3:59 Honoring the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and encouraging the continued commitment to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a national day of service.
54 absent,24
Roll Call 4.25 4:09 Supporting the initiatives of Chicago Wilderness and the Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights:
63 absent
Roll Call 5. To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 101 West Highway 64 Bypass in Roper, North Carolina, as the “E.V. Wilkins Post Office”
76 absent26
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But that’s not really all that they did. Let’s give them some credit: the House also passed the following resolutions without a roll call vote:
Supporting continued political and economic development in Ukraine
H. Res. 970, to congratulate Flint native, University of Alabama sophomore, and running back Mark Ingram on winning the 2009 Heisman Trophy and to honor both his athletic and academic achievements? H. Res. 862, amended, to congratulate the staff, student, and faculty at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy for winning the 2009 Star Innovator in the Intel Schools of Distinction competition
H. Res. 1001, to congratulate North Central College on winning the 2009 NCAA Division III men’s cross country championship
Sergeant Matthew L. Ingram Post Office Designation Act: H.R. 4139, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 7464 Highway 503 in Hickory, Mississippi, as the “Sergeant Matthew L. Ingram Post Office.”
After completing that exhaustive agenda, the House adjourned for a week until January 19, 2010.
You get the picture, don’t you?
They returned to complete the following:
* * *
January 19: 16 minutes in session
Roll Call 6: Congratulating the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine for its 150 years of commitment to advancing science and improving health
Roll Call 7: Congratulating the Penn State women’s volleyball team on winning 2009 NCAA Division 1 National Championship Roll Call 8: Commending the University of Virginia men’s soccer team for winning 2009 Division 1 NCAA National Ch
ampionship
Roll Call 8: Commending the University of Virginia men’s soccer team for winning 2009 Division 1 NCAA National Championship
January 20: 27 minutes in session
Roll Calls 9, 10, 11: Rule for Native American Water Rights and National Park in St. Croix
January 21: 24 minutes in session
Roll Calls 12, 13, 14: Native American Water Rights Roll Call 15: Expressing condolences to and solidarity with the people of Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010
January 26: 16 minutes in session
Roll Call 16: Sense of Congress that president should create a Nuclear Forensic program (nonbinding)
Roll Call 17: Expressing support for designation of January 2010 as National Mentoring Month
Roll Call 18: Recognizing the importance of cervical health and of detecting cervical cancer during its earliest stages and supporting the goals and ideals of Cervical Health Awareness Month
Roll Call 19: Expressing support for the designation of January 10, 2010, through January 16, 2010, as National Influenza Vaccination Week
January 27: 2 hours and 56 minutes in session
Roll Call 20: Rule for Tribal Rights Bill & Historic Site Bill (St. Croix) Roll Call 21: Expressing support for designation of January as Poverty in America Awareness Month
Roll Call 22: Idaho Wilderness Water Facility Roll Call 23: Creation of the Castle Nugent Historic Site in St. Croix, a $50 million program to purchase 2900 acres of privately owned oceanfront property to create a national park and “preserve a Caribbean cultural landscape.”
Roll Call 24: Extension of SBA programs (8 minutes)
Roll Call 25: Honoring the 95th anniversary of the signing of the Rocky Mountain National Park Act
Source: U.S. House of Representatives Roll Call Votes, http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/ROLL_000.asp
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Are we really paying them to honor NCAA champions or celebrate the anniversary of national parks or designate poverty awareness months? Is that what this country needs from its Congress?
It’s no wonder that Americans don’t think very highly of the work Congress is doing (or not doing). Our elected representatives in Washington have proven over and over again that they aren’t looking out for our interests. Not at all.
But from now on, we can’t let them get away with that anymore. We showed them in 2010 that we’re not just going to ignore what they’re doing. We made them understand that they’re accountable to us. That we’re watching them and that voters understand what they’re doing and don’t like it at all.
FOLLOW THE MONEY
But it is only when you get to the money—the campaign donations, assets, liabilities and investments—that you can really understand the men and women who represent you in Congress.
It’s not financial voyeurism. We are entitled to know what is influencing the votes of our representatives. In the section of this book on Nebraska’s Democratic senator Ben Nelson, for example, we describe how he blocked a bill regulating investments in derivatives. And how it turned out that his largest personal investment was in Warren Buffett’s company, which was directly affected by and strongly opposed to the legislation.
The best source of information about money and Congress is the Center for Responsive Politics and its website, www.opensecrets.org. The Center analyzes and disseminates invaluable information—the kinds of things that many members of Congress would prefer to keep secret. Much of their work involves going through thousands of paper documents that are housed in Washington and not available to the people who need the information. The organization does a great job and deserves all of our support. Without them, we would still be in the dark about much of what is going on in Washington and they depend on our contributions to do their important work.
Through its website, you can find out about campaign contributions, donors, PACs, the personal finances of members of Congress, earmarks, and travel by members.
To get started, go to www.opensecrets.org. On the left side of the home page, you will see a heading labeled “Politicians and Elections.” Click on that to open a menu and then scroll down to “Congress.” Click on that and then click on the “112th Congress,” or, to see members of the last Congress, click on “111th Congress.”
Let’s start with a look at some overall financial information. On the left, click on “Net Worth,” which you’ll find in red about halfway down.
Net Worth
This section provides information on the assets and liabilities of each member of Congress. You might be interested in taking a look at the chart in the center of the summary page. It lists the richest members of Congress—and there are lots of them!
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RICHEST MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
Name: Darrell Issa (R-CA)
Minimum Net Worth: $156,050,022
Average: $303,575,011
Maximum Net Worth: $451,100,000
Name: Jane Harman (D-CA)
Minimum Net Worth: $151,480,522
Average: $293,454,761
Maximum Net Worth: $435,429,001
Name: John Kerry (D-MA)
Minimum Net Worth: $182,755,534
Average: $238,812,296
Maximum Net Worth: $294,869,059
Name: Mark Warner (D-VA)
Minimum Net Worth: $65,692,210
Average: $174,385,102
Maximum Net Worth: $283,077,995
Name: Jared Polis (D-CO)
Minimum Net Worth: $36,694,140
Average: $160,909,068
Maximum Net Worth: $285,123,996
Name: Herb Kohl (D-WI)
Minimum Net Worth: $89,358,027
Average: $160,302,011
Maximum Net Worth: $231,245,995
Name: Vernon Buchanan (R-FL)
Minimum Net Worth: $69,434,661
Average: $148,373,160
Maximum Net Worth: $366,180,982
Name: Michael McCaul (R-TX)
Minimum Net Worth: $73,685,086
Average: $137,611,043
Maximum Net Worth: $201,537,000
Name: Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
Minimum Net Worth: $61,446,018
Average: $98,832,010
Maximum Net Worth: $136,218,002
Name: Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Minimum Net Worth: $46,055,250
Average: $77,082,134
Maximum Net Worth: $108,109,018
Source: opensecrets.org
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As a group, members of Congress are much wealthier than the rest of America. In fact, 237 of the 535 members are millionaires. In general, senators are wealthier than their House counterparts. In 2008, they had a median net worth of $1.79 million, while the House median net worth during the same period was just over $600,000.27 Whereas about 1% of Americans are considered millionaires, 44% of members of Congress were in that category. Fifty members had wealth topping $10 million.28 But most of them are well below that: 95% of the Congressional millionaires are between 1 million and 10 million.29
As you can see from the chart above, there are ten members with an average net worth of more than $75,000,000! Darrell Issa (R-CA) is the wealthiest member, with an average net worth of $303,575,011, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Jane Harman (D-CA) is second, with $293,454,761, followed by John Kerry at $238,812,296. Herb Kohl is sixth, with $160,302,011 and Jay Rockefeller is ninth at $98,832,010. Dianne Feinstein is tenth at $77,082,134, and Nancy Pelosi is twelfth at $58,436,537.30
Why so many rich senators and congressmen? It is a direct consequence of campaign finance reform. This legislation, enacted to curb special interest donations and fat cat sponsorship of political candidates, limits all campaign contributions to fixed maximum amounts—except for money a candidate gives to his own campaign.
Congress intended to limit that, too, but the Supreme Court wouldn’t let them and ruled that it violated that individual’s right of free speech. So really rich candid
ates are free to spend whatever they want of their own money. Candidates like former governor Jon Corzine can spend almost $100 million running for office if they spend their own money.
Campaign finance rules are obsolete. With the Internet, candidates can raise money from tens of thousands of small donors. Campaign finance restrictions should be lifted entirely so that personally wealthy candidates do not dominate our political process anymore and there is a level playing field for all candidates.
There are a couple of other issues to consider: can a legislative body that has 43% more millionaires than the country as a whole really be attuned to the needs of the average voter? When 10% of Congress is worth more than $50 million, do they really understand the impact of increased taxes and spending on working families? Or does their stratospheric wealth insulate them from any ability to empathize with their middle-class fellow citizens? And finally, given the vast investment portfolios of many of the wealthiest members, should they recuse themselves from votes that would help their investments?
At the other end of the spectrum, you can also see who are the poorest members of Congress. Click on the “Net Worth” column on the left-hand side. Select a year and the chamber that you wish—or all members of Congress—and click on “poorest.” Those with the lowest net worth (as calculated by OpenSecrets) are:
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POOREST MEMBERS OF THE SENATE
Senate Member: Deborah Stabenow (D-MI)
Average Net Worth: $ 0
Senate Member: Mark Pryor
Average Net Worth: $ 8,500
Senate Member: Jim DeMint
Average Net Worth: $ 40,501
Senate Member: Russ Feingold
Average Net Worth: $ 83,001
Senate Member: Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Average Net Worth: $105,003
Source: Center For Responsive Politics, opensecrets.org, http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/overview.php?type=W&year=2009&filter=H
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