The Get-Rich Congress

Strict laws govern insider trading in the United States, making it illegal for people with private information to profit from stock deals before that information goes public. But as Peter Schweizer realized, there are no such rules to prevent members of Congress from making trades on stocks affected by legislation they work on. In his new book Throw Them All Out, Schweizer, who is William J. Casey fellow at the Hoover Institution, decries “crony capitalism,” compiling instances where prominent senators and representatives—including House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi—made financial deals that were uncannily prescient, profiting handsomely from TARP, Medicare reform, and other programs that they knew about before the public and in some cases played a major role in writing. Here are a few elected representatives who enriched themselves.