Report: The poorest member of Congress is worth negative $3.7 million

Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) holds the ignominious distinction of being the "poorest" member of Congress, according to Roll Call's annual ranking of the most and least affluent lawmakers. Valadao's estimated net worth: An astounding -$3.7 million.

Though Valadao reported millions of dollars in assets related to a dairy farm on his financial disclosure forms, he also reported millions of dollars in liabilities related to it, too, dragging him down into the red.

The estimate comes with a caveat, however. Congressional financial disclosure forms list range values, not hard dollar amounts. For instance, Valadao has one liability listed at between $1 million and $5 million, so his "actual net worth is a mystery," as Roll Call puts it.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

That said, Roll Call's estimate actually falls on the low side. Both Time and CNBC also named Valadao the poorest member of Congress this year, with Time estimating his net worth at -$12.2 million, and CNBC noting it could be as low as -$24.5 million.