Former Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has died, but his six-terms in the U.S. Senate is the “gift” that keeps giving for American taxpayers. Now, taxpayers will fund a $174,000 “death gratuity” to McCain’s family, which will keep with a longstanding tradition of years of the senator’s salary given to the deceased lawmaker’s next of kin.

As Roll Call reported, the next federal appropriations bill will include funding for this gratuity. While the practice is common, people are asking questions, since Cindy McCain’s net worth, thanks to her family’s business, is at least $200 million and possibly more. She also owns at least $2.7 million worth of shares in Anheuser-Busch.

After Cindy’s father died in 2000, she inherited the majority control and chairmanship of Hensley & Co., one of the largest Anheuser-Busch beer distributors in America.

In the meantime, every quarter, President Trump has donated his presidential salary to good causes and federal agencies. In addition, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump do not collect their potential six-figure salary for the White House.

A death gratuity may have been a smart idea at a time when survivors of a senator needed money. But in today’s political climate, politicians can use their government positions to make millions of dollars from public speaking fees, book deals, and lobbying.

The same measure also includes language that would mandate candidates file their disclosures electronically with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), instead of having each state’s Secretary of State forward the documents. The hope here is, the requirement would reduce the lag time for filing, which can frequently be many weeks. This would allow for a more open disclosure of political donors.

At the time of his death, Senator McCain himself had a reported personal net worth of $16 million and an impressive real estate portfolio.

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