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John,
There are so many ways corrupt politicians and weapons contractors can scratch each other’s backs to benefit financially from the wars they promote.
Whether it’s goosing shareholder profits with government-funded stock buybacks, companies donating millions to politicians’ campaign organizations, or lawmakers making the move from legislating to lobbying, the public loses when the contractor-warmonger alliance wins.
It’s unconscionable that members of Congress are still able to make direct investments in companies that they have the ultimate insider knowledge of, knowing and deciding which contracts to award. When it’s the military-industrial complex receiving billions of US taxpayer dollars, the stakes are even higher, literally life and death for the victims of war.
This is why it’s so important that Rep. Rashida Tlaib has introduced the Stop Politicians Profiting From War Act, an essential bill that will prohibit members of Congress and their families from having any financial interests in companies that have contracts with the Pentagon.
Sign onto the petition to become a grassroots co-sponsor of the Stop Politicians Profiting From War Act now!
Shockingly, 97 members of Congress or their immediate families made direct purchases of weapons contractor stocks between 2019 and 2021, and 25 of these bought weapons stocks while serving on committees that oversee military spending.
“There ought to be a law,” as they say, and if this bill passes, there will be.
For example, since the US government was responsible for 71% of Lockheed’s sales in 2021, when Lockheed bought back $7.9 billion of their own shareholders’ stocks to artificially boost the stock’s value, this means that we the taxpayers paid $5.6 billion just to enable Lockheed to enrich their investors.
Tragically, in the absence of appropriate legislation, this clear conflict of interest between private investing and allocating government funding has continued unabated. In 2023, members of Congress made a total of 96 weapons stock purchases, including 8 buys after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
Politicians shouldn’t have a monetary incentive to make war, and they shouldn’t benefit personally from making decisions that can have such devastating impact on other people’s lives.
Sign on and become a grassroots co-sponsor of the Stop Politicians Profiting From War Act now!
Thank you for putting legislators on notice: They cannot profit personally from the wars they wage.
- Amanda
Amanda Ford, Director
Democracy for America
Advocacy Fund
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