Made the scomplist why, but for our first 45 minutes, wed like to get your thoughts on your member of congress and if they represent you. You may decide to look at this in economic terms of how much you make, but you also may decide to talk about if your member represents your beliefs, your values or what have you. Heres how you can make your thoughts known on our lines. 2025853880 for democrats. 20205853881 for republicans. 2025853882 for independents. You can make your thoughts nown on social media, too. cspanwj is how you tweet us. On facebook, about 40 people so far posting. U can send us email too at journal cspan. Org. This could take a lot of dvent things, depending on what you want to bring to the table. Economically, you may want to make your thoughts known as well, especial until light of a recent posting that was on the newspaper roll call here in washington, d. C. They decided to profile the top 50 richest members of congress. On the phone to talk about the list is one of the people responsible for the piece, the staff writer, who is with roll call. Thanks for joining us. Guest thanks, pedro. Host tell us a little bit about why roll call puts this list out. Guest sure. Well, its a really unique project that roll call does. Its something that weve been doing for 24 years, and the reason we do is we just want to give people a picture of how wealthy their members of congress are, and we also list the 10 poorest members of congress. You get to see the range of wealth between all 541 members. Host something about when it comes to wealth, how do you find out this information . Guest yes, we have a specific methodology. So we comb through all of their Financial Disclosure reports, and we add up we figure out their minute worth. So to do that, we add up the minimum value of all of their assets, and from that figure, we subtract the total minimum value of all of their liabilities. So youre probably wondering why i keep saying the word minimum, and thats because of the way the Financial Disclosure reports are set up. They have members list values of assets and liabilities in terms of ranges. So say youre a member of congress, and youre reporting a stock, and you check the box on your Financial Disclosure form that is worth between 5 million and 25 million. So us looking at the form, we dont know where in that range the stock actually falls, but we do know that its worth at least 5 million. So while its not perfectly precise, it is the most accurate way to get a picture of the wealth for all members of congress. Host you list 50, but were going to give you a list of five that well show on the air. You can talk about this, the five top richest members of congress. This list, it starts with representative darrell issa, also michael mccaul, john delaney of maryland, jay rockefeller, the senator from West Virginia, democratic senator, and mark warner, democratic senator from virginia. Of that list, start with darrell issa, and talk maybe also about some other interesting aspects of people on that list. Guest sure. Congressman darrell issa, republican from california, hes a chairman of the House Committee on government oversight and reform. This is his second year as the richest member of congress. Hes worth at least 357 million. And that outpaces every single member. His wealth is triple that of the second wealthiest member of congress. And he made his fortune from funding car alarm companies, but now most of his wealth is from the bond market and real estate. Some other interesting things to note about that top five, the second wealthiest member, congressman michael mccaul, he actually doesnt list a single asset in his name. Theyre all mostly connected to his wife, linda, which is kind of an interesting thing that we found. Host what does his wife do . Guest his wife, i believe her father was involved in real estate oh, her father founded Clear Channel communications, but i believe that all those assets in stocks and everything come from that. Host also on the list, john delaney of maryland, the democrat. His net worth is 111 million. Guest yes, thats right, and his net worth really increased this year by 64 , making him hes also the wealthiest democrat, which is kind of interesting. Actually, of the top 10, democrats really outrank republicans here. There are eight democrats and two republicans in the top 10, which is also interesting to note. Host we cant highlight it here, but if you go to the website to check it out later, not only do they talk about the worth, they talk about the assets and how it breaks down as far as investments, real estate, trust, and bank accounts. We talked about the richest. You mentioned the poorest. Lets define what poorest means in this term. Guest sure. So just to give you a picture, the poorest member of congress is congressman the republican of california. He has a net worth of negative 3. 7 million. So of these 10 poorest, a lot of them are in debt mostly because of margins, so thats how we figure up that list. Host so the other ones on that list, the democrat of florida, the republican from california, the republican from california, and number five on that list, the member from missouri. The question you have to ask with all this money and being on this list, being on this list, i guess as far as our viewers are concerned, does that affect the political process at all, and do you make those parallels . Guest sure. Thats a good question. Our Senior Editor did an interesting column looking at the vulnerable incumbents that are on the list, and there are five of them, four democrats, one republican. He pointed out that in this Midterm Election cycle, the fact that those vulnerable members are so wealthy might not have a really significant effect on their races just because their challengers are also well off. But i think generally in the political atmosphere, this can probably only contribute to the public looking at congress as an institution thats out of touch, frankly. This year weve seen the lowest Approval Ratings for congress ever. So this kind of only could add to that. Host the work of the people from roll call available on their website. You can find that information of the 50 richest members of congress. Joining us on the phone, bridget bowman. Thanks for your time. Guest thanks for having me. Host you may look at if your representative best represents you or reflects the way you think. In terms of money, as our guest talks about, or maybe if it comes to values or beliefs, what have you, for our first 45 minutes does, your Congress Person represent new terms of all those things . Heres how you can make those thoughts known. Democrats, 2025853880. Republicans, 2025853881. And for independents, 2025853882. You can mention them by name if you wish. Several who are posting on facebook and on twitter this morning doing that. This person on twitter say joe garcia is his member of congress, saying he does a good job considering his hands are tied by the g. O. P. Oligarchy in the house. Again, make those thoughts known on our Facebook Page or twitter page, and you can put those there, and well read some of those as we go along on the morning. Michael is up first. He is from new york. Were asking you to talk about if your congressperson represents you. Michael, youre on. Good morning, go ahead. Good morning to you. Thank you so much for allowing me to talk. I happen to i dont think my ongressperson represents me. Im a professor in a university here in new york. Its quite funny. We have they say that isis has 30,000 people, you know, following them. Our university here in new york, which is obama went there has more than 30,000 people. But thats not really the reason for my concern with my congressperson. Host who is your congressperson, by the way . Which one would you like to highlight . Caller its caroline maloney. Heres my concern. I hear president obama on tv talking about how hes going to destroy the russian economy. Now, being that im a little bit of a senior professor, i remember the cuban missile crisis. So heres president obama telling us hes going to destroy the russian economy, which is a bit dangerous with a country that has over 5,000 atomic weapons, which could destroy europe and the United States. Host so you mentioned your Congress Person being caroline maloney. When it comes to Foreign Policy, do you think she would reflect your views on issues of Foreign Policy . Caller oh, no, no, shes on tv with president obama saying, you know, its a good thing crash the going to russian economy. Theres no mention about detroit. Detroit has no water. 350,000 people are without water. Host ok. Don is up next, largo, florida, democrats line. Were asking about your congressperson, if they best represent you. Don, good morning. Caller yeah, my congressperson is david jolly. He was recently put into office by an illegal gerrymander. His office was called for privileged illegal gerrymander. I filed charges with him and his republican supervisor of election and asked that my opinion be placed in a congressional record, as i was a candidate for that office. I find that unless you take bribes and become incorporated, they call it campaign contributions, and a sandain committee, you cant get elected, and its done by the media. You know, here we have the tampa bay times, a multimillion Dollar Organization that only recognized alex as a democrat candidate for u. S. Congress because she was likely to give bribes. We recently had a u. S. Florida governor raised here in which they only raised rick scott, and charlie cris host as far as your congressman, despite how he got into office, how does he not reflect you how does he differ from you . Caller he believes we have to have a closed system that says the constitution has nothing to do with constitutional qualifications. We have to have a closed system that says only bribes and incorporation count. I say that people are naturally described in the u. S. Constitution, declaration of independence, pledge of allegiance, we dont have to have a closed system that says that we dont exist. Host donna up next from california, democrats line. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host youre on. Go ahead. Whos the person whos your congressperson . Lets start off with that. Caller my congressperson, unfortunately, is darrell issa. He does not represent me or my beliefs at all. Host as far as what are chief amongst those beliefs or values, what would you say he most differs with you on . Caller well, he just wants to totally obstruct and stop anything that the democrats want to do. Hes had over 100 hearings or something on benghazi. s just hes vowed to obstruct the white house as much as he possibly could. Host so darrell issa is your representative. What about your senators . Do they more reflect you there in california . Caller oh, yes. We have Dianne Feinstein and barbara boxer. Theyre great. Host thats donna from california. Again, our first 45 minutes devoted on looking at your congressperson, whether they be in the house or in the senate and asking you if that person best represents you. You can look at it in a variety of ways, but if you want to make your thoughts known, 2025853880 is our line for democrats. 2025853881 for republicans. And its 2025853882 for independents. Our first caller had mentioned russia, and the front page of the Financial Times this morning takes a look at an increase of sanctions towards that nation. This is from the front page, u. S. Escalates pressure on moscow, saying that it significantly expanded the sanctions against russia yesterday by adding its biggest gas company and the largest bank to the list of targeted companies, a major escalation of pressure on moscow to step back from the war in ukraine host well hear next from george, south carolina, independent line, hi. Caller yes, good morning. How are you . Host fine, thank you. Good morning. Caller all right. My concern about my congressperson representing me, i have senator graham. Hes been very instrumental in keeping our air force base up and running during the budget cuts of the defense department. And also, hes been a major person about the benghazi incident, as well as the or iso policy of isis situation, and up and running is senator tim scott. He looks pretty promising as far as education and the welfare state. So yes, i agree with my state senators. Host lets hear from fran, who lives in albany, new york. Democrats line, good morning, fran. Caller oh, good morning. How are you . Host im well, thanks. Caller well, we are represented by senator paul. My husband is here, hes my peanut gallery. We have senator schumer and senators gillebrand. Theyre all very good. Congressman tonko has a lot of town meetings where he really listens to people, and he spends time with people, you know, all throughout his district. He also has listened to peoples concerns about their taxes going up and has really balanced the needs of, you know, ok, we need these taxes to provide certain programs, but on the other hand, people also need a way to maintain their livelihood. Hes very good about balancing those concerns. And he also did vote for the Affordable Care act, which i think overall is a good thing. Of course, any new program is going to have its glitches and its problems, but i think its better to have it than to not have it. And when i mentioned a concern i had, he was very understanding and did something for a sector of the population that is not very high profile, in addition to addressing the Major Concerns of homeowners and a major sector of the population, he was concerned about what i brought up, a number of women being release from the incarceration, state incarceration, and i basically released homelessness, because theres not enough housing for them. Theres more housing for men returning from incarceration, and he actually did something to help enable more Community Residences for people in need of that type of housing. Host with Foreign Policy being discussed here on capitol hill, particularly after the president s speech this week, has your congressman weighed in on that, and how would you like him to vote or at least weigh in on the topic of attacking isis and going after them . Caller well, hes in the process of i mean, his way of approaching those situations in the past has been to, you know, weigh in with his consultants, his team, then weigh in with the public, and then come up with an informed and thoughtful opinion. So im assured that he will be doing that and coming up with, you know, something public. I havent had the time working as many hours as i do to find out exactly what he has done, but im sure that that is thats his way of problem solving, and im sure hell come up with a balanced opinion. Host fran telling bus her congressperson, if she represents her. You can do the same on one of the lines this morning. Up next, well hear from georgia. Here is harry on our independent line. Good morning, harry. Youre on, sir. Go ahead. Caller good morning. Thanks very much. I would just say it seems to me my congressman, rob woodall, represents the Republican Party. He doesnt represent me. He doesnt represent the interests of the community. He represents the interests of the people who donate money to him, which come the majority from out of the district, and even out of the state. I voted 20 years for john behinder who rob woodall worked for, and john was very what you call constituentoriented. He paid attention to his voters, but rob woodall does not seem to. Host whats the chief area of difference between and you your congressman, do you think . Caller well, again, it would serving the interests of the Republican Party instead of serving the interest host specifically how . Caller in the constituency. Well, again, obstructing everything that the white house tries to do. This whole idea of what they call the hastert rule in the house of representatives, which determines that nobody bill will be brought to the floor unless it has the majority of republican support is just its foolishness, and its shortsighted, and its mean. Host kyle up next from minnesota, republican line, hi. Caller hi. How are you . Host im well, thanks. Caller my congressman is congressman kline, and he had previously recommended me, but i tried to primary him out after his support for the n. S. A. And for broad intervention worldwide, but i failed in that as secretary, so i feel like im turk more third party. Host and who do you like in the third party, if anybody comes to mind . Caller unfortunately, we dont have any candidates in the second congressman district here running third party. So there really isnt an option. Host when you look at issues about where you differ with your congressman, is it specifically security, specifically Foreign Policy, or are there other issues that come to mind . Caller mainly the fourth amendment. He doesnt seem to care too much about the fourth amendment, and then Foreign Policy. He seems to be a broad interventionist worldwide. Host and as far as this are you voting for anybody in this novembers election . Caller i am. Im leaning third party again, but perhaps mr. Mcfadden whos running against mr. Franken. Scommoip thats kyle from minnesota. Hes calling in on a republican line. Again, if you want to give us a call on the line, its 202585 3808 for democrats. 2025853881 for republicans. 2025853882 for independents. On twitter, Edwin Christian writing in this morning, saying that louie is his representative, and he does not represent, he says, most of our area. He represents the g. O. P. First, fox news second, and he thinks about east texas. If you want to get specific on facebook or twitter, or you can make comments on the line as well this morning. From liberia, the focus out of washington. It talks about how that country is dealing with ebola. It says that its president wrote a letter to president obama. He president wrote that host the 25bed hospital being provided is hardly a drop in the bucket for the people of liberia. Your congressman and if they represent you, new jersey, republican line. This is pat. Hello. Caller hey, pedro. My congressman is frank pallone, and he is a democrat. Like the caller from georgia, he really supports his donors. Hes big on domestic spending, but the things like my pet peeve with him is outsourcing.