The Top 10 Richest Politicians In Congress

The economy may have been tanking, but it was apparently a different story on Capitol Hill where the 50 richest lawmakers gained a cumulative $1.4 billion in personal wealth from 2008 to 2009.

Researchers at The Hill scoured the financial disclosure reports for members of the House and Senate. Because the disclosures are not exact -- they fall into monetary value ranges -- the writers used lower-range values for assets, and higher-range for liabilities.

Here's more background from The Hill's Kevin Bogardus and Barbra Kim as well as a full slideshow of the 50 wealthiest lawmakers, and here are the top 10 richest politicians on Capitol Hill:

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Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.): $188.6 Million

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Sen. John Kerry (D- Mass.) can thank wife Teresa Heinz Kerry for the bulk of his fortune. The heir to the Heinz ketchup company married the senator in 1995.

Speakers Of The House (1920-Present)

Bank Tied To Libor Scandal

Inside Guantanamo's Prison Facility

Elizabeth Warren

President Barack Obama's Cabinet

Drones: The Future Of Flight

Sen. John Kerry (D- Mass.) can thank wife Teresa Heinz Kerry for the bulk of his fortune. The heir to the Heinz ketchup company married the senator in 1995.

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This Politician

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

Not So Much In The Money!

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Comments

[alexis101]

02:28 PM on 09/04/2010

Blum was a bum, till he got funded by DiFi. do your homework before typing. Trace hm back to the Clift Hotel's Redwood Room in the eighties and see how he passed his time with the then owner, who was subsequently charged with child molestation.

[redbud9]

08:32 AM on 09/02/2010

I thought Republicans were supposed to be the party of the wealthy. Check again...7 of 11 of them are Dems.

[redbud9]

08:30 AM on 09/02/2010

Interesting that about half of them didn't do a blessed thing for the money except marry well, or have it passed down through family. Now they're going to govern us who didn't get it handed to us for free.

[noodlen11]

05:58 AM on 09/02/2010

I guess Al Gore is no longer considered in politics because he is too busy saving the planet (and making sexual advances to massage therapists). The 100s of millions that he made off global warming was just an unintended fluke, really it was

[TxAnna]

09:21 PM on 09/01/2010

The information I'd like would be those whose net worth has increased since taking office and by how much and don't include those who have husbands with investments or investments from before entering Congress.

[valhalladad]

08:36 PM on 09/01/2010

Now what would be really interesting to the voting public is to find out how much they were worth before getting elected and their worth at each subsequent re-election.

There must be some reason that these people spend millions on a hundred thou a year job.

[Charity101]

02:32 AM on 09/02/2010

Well ...it's simple. They get a salary. Free Health Care ...which includes everything ...including facelifts & tucks, etc. They get "operating budgets" - all different: travel, food, lodging, staff, office expenses and who know what else ...ALL of these "operating budgets" are tax free for them. Additionally, they get "Speaker Fees" ...and yes, they get to tap into their "fundraising $$$" for anything they deem as "fundraising for their 1) next campaign 2) a cause (any cause) 3) someone's else campaign ...oh, and don't forget the "junkets" ...many provided by Lobbyists. Bottom line: Tax Payers pay for it ALL ...and there you go.

[kandem]

07:20 PM on 09/01/2010

I don't count those married into their money. It usually comes with pre-nups, like the Kerry's supposedly have.

[Cacey]

06:36 PM on 09/01/2010

Am I missing something? It seems the Republicans and Baggers are constantly screaming that they want people with real life experience in political office At the same time they are screaming that they don't want the rich to be in office but they want those who are close to the common man. Yet in my state, they are cheering Whitman and Fiorina, neither career politicians and both unbelieveably rich and who both fired a lot of common men and women thanks to oursoursing jobs overseas.

[MinerSam]

04:42 PM on 09/01/2010

This means nothing:

John Kerry was behind the building of the Vietnam Memorial, Brought back the bones of our Vietnam Missing in Action by pursuading that Government to allow 100s of Millitary Investigators to comb that countryside UNaccompanied by Vietnamese authorities...this before
we ever established relations with them, and fought to legitimize Agent Orange, discover the Iran Contra corruption. And that money is His wife's anyway.

Every day the Republicans are fighting for Anarchy for corporations, destroy the government we pay to protect our interests when in charge...they sucked our country dry and kicked it off the cliff and now pretend to be popiulists and fiscal conservatives...so average Americans will vote for their deceptive advertising and defective products and against their own interests.

Meanwhile the Democrats restored our Democrats (Minority Party Rights the Republicans did not afford them, and Oversight which the Republicans did not do their job..when their party wracked up 87% of our debt.

Every day Democrats are fighting for the American Middle Class and are not phony like the Republicans on TV not to mention 95% of US Drive time and Chamber of Comerce and the rest of the Media Brainwashing machine they control.

The choice is clear: Radical right wing Totallitarian (for people) and predatory standards for corporation (including main stream media) Republicans,

Or we the People under Democrats who fight for you and me every day under our Democratic System and its constraints.

[alfred allen]

05:58 PM on 09/01/2010

Ok ask them to show you their last 3 year tax returns. That means allowing the I.R.S to show thier returns. Let us see if they used any of the Bush Tax Cuts for the rich.

[Charity101]

02:40 AM on 09/02/2010

Yep ...spin, spin, spin. Half truth, untruths, omitted data and altered data. I suppose you are for redistribution of wealth, too? If you are ...understand that that the wealthy are all those not on welfare. Just ask a Democrat Politician ...that is their definition.

[BEvans]

04:34 PM on 09/01/2010

7 out of the 10 are Democrats...but continue to think that the rich only include the GOP...the Left has been fooled by the likes of these people...they are not what the Democrat party used to represent...they are so out of touch that they have no clue how much you are struggling...their idea of hardship is not have wine that is chilled properly...wake up, the Left is out of touch as much as the Right...time for real change..vote them all out.

[Grannyover70]

04:34 PM on 09/01/2010

All you Democrats who are jumping on the Democrats on this list need to sudy the life of each one, what they have done, and what they have done in office. Not what you get from Rush Limbaugh and FOX.

I sure get on any list for money, but I sure appreciate, over my lifetime, of the benefits Democratic Senators and congressmen and some Presidents have done or tried to do for ordinary Americans. Don't like to see what has happened to some of those benefits, but it
was not the Democrats that took them away.

[MinerSam]

05:03 PM on 09/01/2010

Fanned for truthfulness.

And Billionaires Rupert Murdoch & the Koch brothers are not Legislators but sure control the Republican Brainwashing and User Machines.

[Cacey]

06:38 PM on 09/01/2010

You forgot the minds of those who need others to think for themselves. I can sign on to HP in the morning and get a pretty good recap of Glen, BillO and Sean every morning.

[bassnman]

04:14 PM on 09/01/2010

With this kind of wealth, why are we paying them to represent us? Think of the money saved in income and benefits!

These people have no idea what hard times are. I am closing my small business and going over the road trucking so I can make an actual living. Nice, I'll be gone 17 days to get home and see my family for 2 days. All for 30K a year! And these guys are bring in almost 200K plus bennies, and get to see their families every day. What's wrong with this picture?

[Connie Snyder]

04:07 PM on 09/01/2010

Hmmmm. All that money and I'M paying for THEIR health insurance? It's no wonder we didn't get universal health care through. What are these fat-cats going to do about the Koch brothers trying to dismantle social security and medicare? Just watch? I'm disgusted.

[alexis101]

03:41 PM on 09/01/2010

Dianne Fienstein's husband Richard Blum described as a "wealthy investor" is laughable. He was a worthless real estate agent before she used her power to make them rich. Rumors about him and his personal proclivities have never been made public, but the two of them make a perfect match. Scoundrels.

[Cacey]

06:40 PM on 09/01/2010

That's complete bull. Blum is Dianne's third husband -- she was divorced from the first and the second died. He was highly successful before she married Blum.

[Absolon]

03:14 PM on 09/01/2010

Hmmmn....virtually all of them are thin-lipped white people.