Members of Congress tripled their outside income between 2006 and 2010, as lawmakers earned a total of nearly $30 million last year outside of their official salaries.
The numbers come from an analysis by the Wall Street Journal, which used LegiStorm's database of personal financial disclosures to compare filings. The forms require lawmakers to disclose outside income along with other information.
According to the Journal, members of Congress earned at least $27.5 million last year. Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) topped the list with at least $6.3 million earned from Subway and UPS franchises. At the other end of the spectrum was former Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) who reported earning $280 from the sale of chestnuts. In 2006, outside income for senators and representatives totaled at least $7.8 million.
The numbers are not exact because in some cases the disclosures only require reporting a broad range of value rather than specific figures.
Members of Congress are allowed to earn up to $26,550 a year from outside jobs, as long as they comply with all ethics rules. However, there is no limit on the amount they can earn from dividends or business profits.
The WSJ article quotes critics from the left and the right of the political spectrum decrying the rise in outside income. However, not everyone sees it as a negative.
"I don't think it's beneficial to government to have only eunuchs and virgins make decisions," said Jan Baran, co-head of the election-law and government-practice group at Wiley Rein LLP. "It's preferable to have folks who understand how government affects real life and free enterprise."
