Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite

When the financial markets tumbled and the government worked to stave off panic by pumping billions of dollars into banks last fall, several members of Congress who oversee the banking industry were grabbing up or dumping bank stocks.

Anticipating bargains or profits or just trying to unload before the bottom fell out, some members of the House Financial Services Committee or brokers on their behalf were buying and selling stocks including Bank of America and Citigroup — some of the very corporations their committee would later chastise for greed, an examination of congressional stock market transactions shows.

For example, Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Brooksville), bought Citigroup stock valued between $1,001 and $15,000 on Oct. 2, the day before the House passed the financial rescue bill and President George W. Bush signed it into law, records show. She opposed the bill.

Eleven days later, she bought $1,001 to $15,000 worth of Bank of America stock. It was on the same day that then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told leading banks that he expected them to accept billions in bailout money to prevent a financial meltdown.

Brown-Waite, who has since left the committee to join the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. The precise value of her investments is not publicly known because financial disclosure reports provide only broad ranges, although some members include detailed brokerage reports.

Many details about the massive financial bailout last fall were widely known outside Capitol Hill. Yet members of the Financial Services Committee were privy to closed-door discussions, staff briefings and political horse-trading decisions between political parties, Congress and the White House. Banks lobbied Congress and the administration heavily.

Banks that received bailout money spent $77 million on lobbying and $37 million on federal campaign contributions last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The center found that the banks spending the heaviest got the biggest rescue packages.

Brown-Waite, received over $195,000 in campaign contributions from banking related businesses in 2008.  Including Bank Of America, UBS, AIG, American Bankers Association, Goldman Sachs, and Fannie Mae. However these were before the vote on 10/3! Currently we are researching Representative’s who voted in favor of the bill and connections to their donations after 10/3

We have attempted to contact Ginny Brown-Waite and her office, however they have yet to follow up with us regarding this story.

Source of financial info: Center for Responsive Politics