'Obvious conflict of interest': Report reveals 50+ U.S. lawmakers hold military stocks
Raw StoryAt least 50 U.S. lawmakers or members of their households are financially invested in companies that make military weapons and equipment—even as these firms "receive hundreds of billions of dollars annually from congressionally-crafted Pentagon appropriations legislation," a report published Thursday revealed. Sludge's David Moore analyzed 2023 financial disclosures and stock trades disclosed in other reports and found that "the total value of the federal lawmakers' defense contractors stock holdings could be as much as $10.9 million." "It is an obvious conflict of interest when a member of Congress owns significant stock investments in a company and then votes to award the same company lucrative federal contracts," Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist at the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, told Sludge. Other House lawmakers with potential conflicts of interest include Rep. Gerry Connolly, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who owns Leidos shares worth as much as $248,000; Rep. Debbie Dingell, who owns up to $100,000 worth of RTX stock; and Rep. Patrick Fallon, a member of the Armed Services Committee who holds Boeing stock worth between $100,000 and $250,000. "Every American should take a long, hard look at these holdings to conceptualize the scope of Congress' entanglement with defense contractors," Public Citizen People Over Pentagon advocate Savannah Wooten told Sludge.
History of this topic
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