Bailout Supporters Received More Contributions from Banks

U.S. Representatives who voted “Yes” on the Wall Street rescue plan Monday have received, on average, 54 percent more in campaign contributions from banks and securities groups than lawmakers who voted against the bill, according to an analysis from a group that correlates campaign contributions and Congressional votes.

MapLight.org, based in Berkeley, Calif., said that in the past five years, banks and securities firms gave an average of $231,877 in campaign contributions to each Representative voting in favor of the bailout, compared with an average of $150,982 to each Representative voting against the bailout.

The rescue package, H.R. 3997 — titled The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (full text of the bill) — unexpectedly failed by a 205-228 margin in the House of Representatives Monday. The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday on their version of the bailout package.

According to the MapLight analysis, House Democrats split their votes on the bill, with 140 voting “Yes” and 95 voting “No.” Democrats voting Yes received an average of $212,700 each, about twice as much as those voting No, $107,993. House Republicans also split their votes on the bill, with 65 voting “Yes”, 133 voting “No”, and one abstention. Republicans voting Yes received an average of $273,181 each, 50 percent more than those voting No, $181,688.

View MapLight’s Member-by-Member analysis of the vote.

“Profit-driven companies wouldn’t be making campaign contributions if it didn’t buy them influence or access," said Daniel Newman, MapLight’s executive director. “Votes in Congress align with the river of money that flows through our political system.”

MapLight says that it makes connections between campaign contributions and Congressional votes transparent so that citizens can hold their legislators accountable.

The group also detailed the campaign contribution history of the financial services industry.

According to MapLight, the financial services sector has contributed more to candidates for Congress, Presidential candidates, and political parties than any other sector, totaling $339,649,585 from the beginning of 2007 to present and donating more than $2 billion to Federal candidates from 1989 through today.

Financial services firms have been major contributors in the current Presidential election, with $24,860,257 given to Democrat Senator Barack Obama and $22,108,926 contributed to Republican Senator John McCain.