As recently as 2006, Duke Cunningham was offering 10s of millions of dollars in defense contracts in exchange for a boat and a couple hundred thousand in cash:

As recently as 2006, Duke Cunningham was offering 10s of millions of dollars in defense contracts in exchange for a boat and a couple hundred thousand in cash: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Cunningham#Allegations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Cunningham#Allegations That's guaranteed money, not just "influence." If you have enough money to play, Congressmen offer enormous returns.