Report Shows Lawmakers Heavily Invested in War

A new report out reveals that top legislators have millions of their own dollars invested in the military-industrial complex.

By Pat Shannan

A new study by a nonpartisan research group shows that lawmakers’ stock holdings in various companies doing business with the Defense Department totals more than $196 million, earning the congress critters millions in profits individually since the start of the war in Iraq.

The Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics says that 2006 financial disclosure statements suggest that members’ holdings could pose a conflict of interest as they decide the fate of Iraq war spending. Several members who earned the most from defense contractors have plum committee or leadership assignments, including Democratic Sen. John Kerry, independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman and House Republican Whip Roy Blunt.

The study found that more Republicans than Democrats hold stock in defense companies, but that the Democrats who are invested had significantly more money at stake. In 2006, for example, Democrats held at least $3.7 million in military-related investments, compared to Republican investments of $577,500.

Overall, 151 members hold investments worth $78.7 million to $195.5 million in companies that receive defense contracts that are worth at least $5 million. These investments earned them anywhere between $15.8 million and $62 million between 2004 and 2006, the center concluded.

It is unclear how many members still hold these investments and exactly how much money has been made. Disclosure reports for 2007 are still being vetted. Also, members are required to report only a general range of their holdings.

According to the report, presidential hopefuls Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain did not report any defense-related holdings on their filing.

Not all the companies invested in by lawmakers are typical defense contractors. Corporations such as PepsiCo, IBM, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson have at one point received defense-related contracts, the report notes.

“So common are these companies, both as personal investments and as defense contractors, it would appear difficult to build a diverse blue-chip stock portfolio without at least some of them,â€