Progressive U.S. House member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is gaining support from a most unusual source, arch-conservative Republican Senator Ted Cruz, for her suggestion to ban lobbying by former members of Congress.
"Here’s something I don’t say often: on this point, I AGREE with @AOC," wrote Cruz, an ally of President Donald Trump, in response to her message on Twitter Thursday. "The Swamp would hate it, but perhaps a chance for some bipartisan cooperation?"
Ocasio-Cortez of New York, the most visible of Congress’s new progressive insurgents, didn’t immediately agree, tweeting back that she’d only pair with Cruz if they could "agree on a bill with no partisan snuck-in clauses, no poison pills, etc."
"Then I’ll co-lead the bill with you," she wrote.
"You’re on," Cruz responded.
Trump campaigned in 2016 on a promise to "drain the swamp" in Washington, but little has been done to tighten ethics rules aside from a bill passed this year by House Democrats and ignored by Senate Republicans.
Ted Cruz
✔
@tedcruz
You’re on.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
✔
@AOC
.@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. [ Ссылка ] …
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Current rules bar former members of the House of Representatives from lobbying their old colleagues for a year after leaving. The Senate has a two-year ban.
"I don’t think it should be legal at ALL to become a corporate lobbyist if you’ve served in Congress," Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter. "At minimum there should be a long wait period."
Yet many lawmakers -- such as former House Speaker John Boehner, who joined the board of marijuana company Acreage Holdings Inc. -- provide advice on policy for companies, which isn’t covered by the lobbying ban because it doesn’t involve cajoling their onetime colleagues in Congress.
Ocasio-Cortez cited a report from the watchdog group Public Citizen that said almost 60% of the lawmakers who left Congress last year have taken have taken jobs influencing policy.
"It is understandably unpopular to discuss giving Congress any raises or perks - & bc of that, there’s incentive to keep $ loopholes open," she wrote.
In March, Cruz tweeted a message by another ideological opposite, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who said Facebook Inc. has too much power over speech online.
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