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One of the most pernicious and omnipresent sources of corruption in Washington is the notorious “revolving door” of politics, which metaphorically represents elected officials serving the interests of corporations or industries while in Congress and being rewarded with a cushy, extravagantly paid lobbying job as soon as they retire from “serving the public.”
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A new report from the Public Citizen watchdog group reveals that more than half of the last Congress is now working for lobbyists and raking in the big bucks using their old connections to benefit shady corporations and dark money groups.
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It’s an unacceptable state of affairs that drastically contributes to the inefficiency of Congress, the refusal of legislators to do anything that might disrupt the status quo, and the needs of ordinary Americans being shelved in favor of the interest of the wealthy.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) took to Twitter this morning to sound the alarm and to call for the permanent shuttering of the revolving door…
If you are a member of Congress + leave, you shouldn’t be allowed to turn right around&leverage your service for a lobbyist check.
I don’t think it should be legal at ALL to become a corporate lobbyist if you’ve served in Congress.
At minimum there should be a long wait period. https://t.co/xMu9Mwmdm6
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 30, 2019
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…and found an unlikely ally in the form of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who likes to pretend he’s a big principled anti-corruption and anti-waste Republican when he’s not taking millions of dollars from finance giant Goldman Sachs.
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Here’s something I don’t say often: on this point, I AGREE with @AOC Indeed, I have long called for a LIFETIME BAN on former Members of Congress becoming lobbyists. The Swamp would hate it, but perhaps a chance for some bipartisan cooperation? https://t.co/jPW0xkH2Yy
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 30, 2019
While Cruz is likely just looking to ride Ocasio-Cortez’s coattails back into some form of relevancy after being publicly humiliated by Donald Trump in the 2016 election and quietly licking his chops ever since, the opportunity is a rare one that should not be disregarded if he’s serious — which is a big if.
But if there is one thing Cruz loves doing, it’s shaming his fellow Republicans for being corrupt sellouts and bucking party leadership to make himself look like the only good boy in Congress. Fellow Senator Lindsey Graham famously once said that “If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you.”
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It’s a shame, then, that he usually chooses to grandstand for the more psychotic aspects of his twisted libertarianism and religious extremism rather than anything that would actually benefit the public.
That may be about to change, since Cruz and AOC appear to have nominally agreed to a clean bill to close the revolving door and stem the cycle of corruption that floods American politics.
Of course, one should never, ever, trust Ted Cruz, so please measure your grains of salt accordingly.
.@tedcruz if you’re serious about a clean bill, then I’m down.
Let’s make a deal.
If we can agree on a bill with no partisan snuck-in clauses, no poison pills, etc – just a straight, clean ban on members of Congress becoming paid lobbyists – then I’ll co-lead the bill with you. https://t.co/AZTbmdSexv
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 30, 2019
You’re on. https://t.co/S3TBfNeO3Q
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 30, 2019
