A story you may have missed

The House and Senate Members Personally Profiting from War

This page writes frequently about Congress’s unofficial but all-too-real mandate of making money for its friends in the defense sector. While this is absolutely true, it is also crucial to remember that these lawmakers also use the weapons industry to enrich themselves.

According to a comprehensive breakdown compiled by Sludge, more than 50 members of Congress hold as much as $10.9 million in defense contractor stocks. The publication calculated the figure by using a variety of financial disclosures currently required by law. As the article notes, these securities are held either by the lawmakers, their spouses or children, or via a qualified blind trust.  

The halls of American power ooze with all kinds of unsavory activity, but this is undoubtedly one of the system’s most egregious forms of corruption. Members of Congress who sit on influential bodies that control the flow of federal dollars to some of the nation’s largest weapons manufacturers are directly invested in these same companies, to the tune of hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions of dollars.

“In the Senate, several lawmakers with investments in defense contractors sit on committees that set and approve defense spending: three are on the Committee on Armed Services (SASC), and five are members of the Committee on Appropriations, including two who sit on the key Defense Appropriations subcommittee. This body has jurisdiction over drafting legislation to allocate funds to government agencies including the Department of Defense, as well as supplemental spending bills,” writes Sludge. “On the House side, at least five lawmakers with household stakes in defense contractors sit on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), which has jurisdiction over defense policy, headlined by the mammoth annual NDAA. Three of the representatives sit on the Defense Appropriations subcommittee.”  

The House and Senate Members Personally Profiting from War (substack.com)