Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who make critical decisions affecting the U.S. military, are allowed to own stock in defense contractors. Their staff, however, cannot, nor can appointees to the Department of Defense who must be approved by the committee as part of their confirmation.

 

“I think Congress should live by the rules they impose on other people,” Gordon England told The Washington Post. England gave up at least $1 million in investments in the defense industry in order to serve as deputy defense secretary under George W. Bush. “I am frankly surprised they are allowed to have these investments. Every member of this committee has tremendous influence over every major contract at the Pentagon.”

 

Nineteen of the 28 senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee held assets, whose total value was between $3.8 million and $10.2 million, in companies that did business with the Pentagon between 2004 and 2009, according to The Washington Post.

 

Eight senators and their families held $1 million in assets in the nation’s top defense contractors, including General Electric, Northrop Grumman and United Technologies.

 

Over the previous five years, the committee members with the most invested in defense work were Republicans John McCain of Arizona and James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Democrat Kay Hagan of North Carolina.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Senate Panel Ban on Stock for Appointees But Not Itself Seen as Double Standard (by Scott Higham, Kimberly Kindy and Dan Keating, Washington Post)