Washington, D.C.—The six House members of the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction raised at least $371,690 from the finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) sector in the third quarter of 2011, according to Public Campaign analysis of filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) released today with the New Bottom Line Campaign. Co-Chair Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) raised the most out of House members from the sector, bringing in $158,240.

“With much needed revenue from Wall Street on the table, like the Financial Speculation Tax, these financial donors clearly know where to make their investments,” said Liz Ryan Murray, policy director with National People’s Action, a member of New Bottom Line. “The question is whether supercommittee members will side with the needs of the country or the wants of their Wall Street donors.”

Key Facts from the Analysis:

• The top recipient of Wall Street money on the committee so far is Co-Chair Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), who took $158,240 from the financial sector in the third quarter of 2011.
• Insurance interests provided the largest chunk of money from the sector, giving 28%, or $103,350, in donations to the House members.
• 92% of the sector’s donations came in amounts of $1,000 or more.
• PACs representing some of the country’s biggest financial firms handed over money to committee members, including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, Capital One, and the American Bankers Association.

In September, Public Campaign and National People’s Action released a report showing that the 12 members of the committee have received over $41 million in money from financial industry interests during their time in Congress. More than two-dozen former aides to supercommittee members work for financial industry clients.

“The Occupy protests across the country show that people are tired of big donors buying policies in Washington, and there is no better example of how the one percent gets its way in Washington than contributions from Wall Street,” said David Donnelly, national campaigns director with Public Campaign. “Elected officials should spend more time in the living rooms of everyday Americans struggling in this economy and less time in the boardrooms of those big banks and Wall Street firms whose practices crashed it.”

In August, Public Campaign and two-dozen groups urged supercommittee members to give up fundraising while serving on the supercommittee. Just one member, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass) actually pledged to stop raising money for himself while serving.

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Public Campaign is a national nonpartisan organization that fights to raise the voices of everyday people in our democracy through changing our campaign finance laws and through holding elected officials accountable. Learn more at www.publicampaign.org.

The New Bottom Line is a national campaign fueled by a coalition of community organizations, congregations, labor unions, and individuals working together to build a movement that challenges established big bank interests on behalf of struggling and middle-class communities. Learn more at http://www.newbottomline.com.