Here's how much senators are making from their side hustles
Being a senator can be a demanding job. But many of them still find the time do things on the side that help earn them an extra buck.
From book sales to part-time jobs, it's all laid out in the financial disclosures that members of Congress are required to file every year. Roughly half of senators filed those documents by the May 15 deadline, while the rest have requested an extension until August.
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania nearly doubled his income in 2024, bringing in a $172,500 advance payment from Penguin Random House for a forthcoming book. According to Semafor, the book is called "Unfettered" and will be co-written with Buzz Bissinger, the author of Friday Night Lights.
Fetterman's not the only one with a forthcoming book. Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina is set to release his fifth book, entitled "One Nation Always Under God," in August, according to his disclosure. A description from HarperCollins says the book is about "how Christian values forged our legal system, educational institutions, healthcare, social services, and more." Scott received $85,000 from the publisher in 2024.
Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, meanwhile, has a second job on the side: He's still serving as a senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, drawing a $31,800 salary in 2024.
That second job has kept him busy. He took 15 different paid trips, including to London and the US Virgin Islands, as part of his role as a pastor in 2024. He also delivered eight paid speeches in connection with that, donating the combined $15,000 in compensation to charity.
He made over $150,700 in book royalties, which comes on top of a combined $1.1 million from books in 2023 and 2022.
Spokespeople for Fetterman, Scott, and Warnock did not respond to requests for comment.
All of this is ethically permissible. Lawmakers were permitted to make up to $32,000 in outside income in 2024, and there's no limit on how much they can earn from book sales.
Many of the US Senate's most prominent members have taken advantage of that, raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars year after year.
Among them are Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who made $148,750 in book royalties in 2024, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who has historically made lots of money from books but brought in just $27,900 last year.
In 2023, eight senators made more than $100,000 from books, while six of them made more than their annual salary of $174,000 in 2022.
Second jobs are less common, but Warnock's not the only one.
Last year, former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema made about $29,900 from teaching at Arizona State University, while now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio made about $20,800 as an adjunct professor at Florida International University.
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