Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appear to be teaming up. And no, hell hasn’t frozen over.
While the Texas Republican and New York Democrat are on opposite ends of the political spectrum and have clashed on Twitter, they do agree on least one thing: Former members of Congress should not become lobbyists.
The two came to bipartisan agreement during a Twitter exchange Thursday.
Ocasio-Cortez kicked it off, tweeting: “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.”
Cruz responded: “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?”
“If you’re serious about a clean bill, then I’m down,” Ocasio-Cortez replied. “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.”
“You’re on,” said Cruz.
The conversation was spurred by a new report by the watchdog group Public Citizen, which found that nearly two-thirds of former members of the 115th Congress — which ended in January — who have taken jobs outside of politics are now lobbying or have other jobs influencing federal policy. Of those, 26 are now “working for lobbying firms, consulting firms, trade groups or business groups working to influence federal government activities.”
Former senators are currently banned from lobbying Congress for two years after they leave Capitol Hill, and representatives are banned for one year. They are allowed to lobby the executive branch immediately, though.
And while President Donald Trump pledged to “drain the swamp” when he took office and lengthen those ban periods, he has not attempted to do so yet.
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