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Congress' freshman class: Millionaire's club by Marin Cogan - Mar. 9, 2011 06:00 PM POLITICO.COM Like their more senior counterparts, the new members of the 112th session are an exceptionally wealthy bunch. Two-thirds of the Senate freshmen are millionaires, while about 40 percent of the 96 new House members this year are millionaires -- according to freshly crunched data from the most recently available financial disclosure reports by the Center for Responsive Politics. POLITICO looked at the rookies' asset report cards in early December and found much the same thing -- the freshman class is a millionaires club. Senate freshmen are slightly wealthier than their upper-class counterparts; House freshmen are slightly less. Still, CRP's numbers are stark, especially when considering that only about 1 percent of Americans are as financially fortunate. The median estimated wealth for a Senate frosh is a staggering $3.96 million. For House freshmen, it's $570,418. Because financial disclosure requirements are broad, members are only required to report their assets in wide ranges. CRP averaged those ranges to rank the richest members of Congress. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) came in first at $94.87 million. House frosh Diane Black (R-Tenn.) came in second at $49.4 million, followed by North Dakota Republican Rick Berg at $39.2 million. Republican Reps. Blake Farenthold of Texas, Scott Rigell of Virginia, James Renacci of Ohio, Steve Pearce of New Mexico and Richard Hanna of New York follow, all with assets of more than $20 million. Not every new lawmaker is awash in cash, of course. First-time Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois, one of the few members of his class to deny federal health benefits and go it alone in the individual market, is in debt. The Republican lists negative assets between -$481,994 and -$153,001-- making him the least wealthy member of the freshman class. Walsh told POLITICO last month that the decision to decline federal health benefits would mean paying for a treatment for his wife, who has a preexisting condition, out of pocket. "It's a cost we will feel, a cost I will have to pick up. I won't turn down benefits because I have something to fall back on or because I'm independently wealthy," he said. Other members of the freshman class have a net worth that falls somewhere between the negative and positive range, including Democrat Terri Sewell of Alabama, and Republicans Renee Ellmers of North Carolina, Allen West of Florida, Kevin Yoder of Kansas and Tim Griffin of Arkansas. Two members -- Karen Bass of California and Steven Fincher of Tennessee - listed no reportable assets or liabilities. The Arizona Republic is a member of the Politico Network.
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