Which of Congress's Richest Members are Giving Up Their Pay During the Shutdown?
So far, many of Capitol Hill's wealthiest seem to be collecting their salaries, even while the federal workforce sits home.
Since the government shutdown began, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have tried to show solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of furloughed government workers — or at least just tried to avoid looking callous — by forgoing their salaries. According to The Washington Post, at least 123 members of congress have either declined to be paid or promised to donate their earnings to charity so far.
But here's the odd thing: some of the Capitol's richest denizens, the ones you'd think would be first to say "no thanks" to a paycheck to avoid any political embarrassment, still haven't jumped on the bandwagon. At least, they haven't publicly. Of the 100 wealthiest members of Congress, all of whom claim estimated fortunes above $4.6 million and are featured on the table below, 28 didn't show up on the Post's list, or in my own searches.* There may well be a not insignificant number of House and Senate members with seven and eight-figure fortunes who are still inexplicably choosing to collect their salary. And since I'm sure you're wondering, yes they too seem to be split between Democrats and Republicans. No party, it seems, has a monopoly on obliviousness.
A note about the net-wealth figures, which come courtesy of the Center for Responsive Politics, follows after the table, which I'll update as new info comes to light. (First Update, Friday Oct. 4, below the table).
| Member | Estimated Net Worth | Refusing Pay |
| Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) | $500,624,461 | X |
| Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif) | $480,325,019 | X |
| Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va) | $228,129,609 | X |
| Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo) | $214,946,679 | X |
| Rep. John K. Delaney (D-Md) | $139,025,569 | X |
| Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa) | $102,706,012 | X |
| Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn) | $100,190,174 | X |
| Rep. Vernon Buchanan (R-Fla) | $95,327,629 | X |
| Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) | $94,162,532 | |
| Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) | $88,544,030 | X |
| Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif) | $86,224,049 | X |
| Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) | $70,725,124 | X |
| Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn) | $64,744,035 | X |
| Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) | $60,351,517 | X |
| Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla) | $54,823,540 | |
| Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho) | $53,385,526 | X |
| Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash) | $53,234,032 | X |
| Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) | $47,990,593 | X |
| Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif) | $44,517,529 | |
| Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn) | $41,539,508 | X |
| Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) | $39,382,836 | |
| Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore) | $38,370,525 | X |
| Rep. Nita M. Lowey (D-NY) | $36,633,517 | |
| Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass) | $35,677,625 | |
| Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz) | $33,925,002 | |
| Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-NC) | $33,583,501 | X |
| Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va) | $29,494,036 | X |
| Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) | $28,622,007 | |
| Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis) | $27,470,511 | X |
| Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) | $27,306,524 | X |
| Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY) | $26,579,067 | X |
| Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) | $24,222,549 | X |
| Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis) | $23,755,008 | X |
| Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-Texas) | $23,304,732 | X |
| Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) | $22,073,031 | X |
| Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo) | $21,837,606 | X |
| Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif) | $21,597,549 | |
| Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM) | $20,364,007 | X |
| Rep. John A. Yarmuth (D-Ky) | $20,240,503 | X |
| Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa) | $19,266,515 | X |
| Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo) | $18,918,517 | X |
| Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill) | $18,734,720 | X |
| Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga) | $18,422,013 | |
| Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill) | $17,891,011 | X |
| Sen. Kay R. Hagan (D-NC) | $17,833,270 | X |
| Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis) | $16,205,282 | X |
| Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) | $16,023,078 | X |
| Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) | $16,012,060 | |
| Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn) | $15,934,508 | X |
| Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich) | $15,878,109 | |
| Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) | $15,533,044 | |
| Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) | $14,311,046 | X |
| Rep. Steven Daines (R-Mont) | $13,847,505 | X |
| Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas) | $13,295,011 | X |
| Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) | $12,845,039 | X |
| Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) | $12,415,524 | |
| Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo) | $12,108,015 | X |
| Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga) | $11,985,067 | |
| Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla) | $11,440,024 | |
| Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif) | $11,083,039 | |
| Rep. Keith J. Rothfus (R-Pa) | $9,987,526 | X |
| Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif) | $9,716,505 | X |
| Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) | $9,652,512 | X |
| Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) | $9,237,110 | |
| Rep. David McKinley (R-WVa) | $9,202,541 | X |
| Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore) | $8,963,560 | X |
| Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas) | $8,600,004 | X |
| Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn) | $8,429,528 | X |
| Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) | $8,311,113 | X |
| Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) | $8,274,507 | X |
| Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo) | $8,036,510 | X |
| Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala) | $7,931,023 | |
| Rep. John Fleming (R-La) | $7,768,570 | X |
| Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WVa) | $7,650,050 | X |
| Rep. Jon Runyan (R-NJ) | $7,593,012 | |
| Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn) | $7,396,021 | X |
| Rep. Mark R. Meadows (R-NC) | $6,846,016 | X |
| Rep. Dennis Heck (D-Wash) | $6,827,033 | |
| Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala) | $6,789,034 | X |
| Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich) | $6,781,573 | |
| Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore) | $6,751,014 | |
| Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) | $6,653,843 | X |
| Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Colo) | $6,490,536 | X |
| Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla) | $6,466,006 | |
| Rep. George Holding (R-NC) | $6,436,027 | X |
| Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va) | $6,419,058 | X |
| Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind) | $6,319,518 | X |
| Sen. John A. Barrasso (R-Wyo) | $6,137,509 | |
| Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) | $5,923,516 | X |
| Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) | $5,703,057 | X |
| Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev) | $5,376,028 | |
| Rep. Ann L. Wagner (R-Mo) | $5,361,043 | X |
| Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga) | $5,287,513 | X |
| Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis) | $5,228,046 | X |
| Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa) | $4,982,671 | X |
| Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del) | $4,893,080 | X |
| Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn) | $4,807,570 | X |
| Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich) | $4,777,051 | |
| Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass) | $4,634,023 | X |
| Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt) | $4,602,548 |
*Update Friday, October 4, 11:32 AM: After receiving an email from a House office that said it had never been contacted by the the Post, I did my own search for additional names, and turned up quite a few. Here are sources for: Paul Ryan, Tom Petri, Jim Sensenbrenner, Jay Rockefeller, Joe Manchin, David McKinley, Chellie Pingree, Tom Latham, Rodney Frelinghuysen, Elizabeth Esty, Rosa DeLauro, Ron Wyden, Mike Conaway, Dan Coates, Richard Hanna, Blake Farenthold, Kenny Marchant, Steve Pearce, Cynthia Lummis, Roger Williams, Michael Bennett, Scott Tipton, John Garamendi, Elizabeth Warren, Filemon Vela, Vicky Hartzler, John Fleming, Jim Cooper, Mark Meadows, Jeff Sessions, George Holding,
On the Net Worth Data: In reality, we can't precisely rank Congress members by wealth, but we can get a very good sense of a general order. Lawmakers aren't required to share the exact value of their debts and assets on their financial disclosure forms. Instead, they put down a range for each. To work around that limitation, the CRP calculates a maximum and minimum net worth for each member, then calculates the midpoint, and orders them based on that number.