Lawmakers' Profits Are Scrutinized

Republican profiteering take four hundred and ninety six:

Hastert and Others Defend Land Gains
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 22, 2006; Page A01

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) made a $2 million profit last year on the sale of land 5 1/2 miles from a highway project that he helped to finance with targeted federal funds.

A Republican House member from California, meanwhile, received nearly double what he paid for a four-acre parcel near an Air Force base after securing $8 million for a planned freeway interchange 16 miles away. And another California GOP congressman obtained funding in last year's highway bill for street improvements near a planned residential and commercial development that he co-owns.