Washington has a lot of jargon. The title “flack” means “spokesman.” “The CR” is shorthand for a spending bill that keeps the government funded at current levels. And the phrase “former congressman” really means “lobbyist.”
The revolving door, through which lawmakers monetize their public service by putting it to work for special interests is the single most corrupt thing about Washington. It corrupts our government and corrupts our businesses. That’s why we applaud the freshmen Republican senators who have joined a heretofore mostly Democratic effort to stop this revolving door.
Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., have introduced a bill to impose a lifetime ban on lobbying by former House members and senators. Second-term Republican Rep. Trey Hollingsworth of Indiana introduced the same measure in the House a few weeks ago.
The bills would bar former members, in perpetuity, from making any lobbying contacts on behalf of clients. The current restrictions last only one or two years. This wouldn’t stop lawmakers from cashing out, or even going to work in lobbying shops — there’s likely no feasible and constitutional way to do that. But it would say that when you walk out the doors of the Capitol as a former lawmaker, you can’t come back as a lobbyist.
A shockingly high number of former members become lobbyists. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., became a lobbyist after leaving the Senate a few years back. It seems his firm kept his job open for him when he returned briefly to the Upper Chamber last year, because Kyl is now back at the same firm. One retiring member, Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan., opened her lobbying shop last November while she was still in Congress.
This isn’t a problem only liberals should care about. The allure of K Street job drags policy in a very unconservative direction. Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., the House committee chairman who expanded Medicare to cover prescription drugs immediately cashed out to run the biggest drug lobby. And it’s not just handouts, it’s regulation, too. The first member of Congress to propose regulating hedge funds, Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., became the first former member of Congress to run the Managed Funds Association, the major hedge-fund lobbying group.
Increasing government’s role in an industry increases the demand for former members. Conservatives understand that incentives matter, and so the incentive the revolving door creates is for more regulation, more subsidies, more complexity, and more mandates. Free enterprise would erode the value of a lobbyist and thus diminish the future earnings of a lawmaker eyeing a cashout.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., has proposed a similar bill in the past. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., are running for president as the scourges of lobbyists. When you consider the disdain freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., clearly feels towards the lawmaker-lobbyist nexus, you could imagine some powerful bipartisan support behind this push.
Some conservatives raise constitutional questions. Yes, the First Amendment protects the right of Americans to petition the government for the redress of grievances. But nowhere does the Constitution give you the right to hire Jon Kyl or John Breaux as your lobbyist.
If we want Washington to control less of our lives, we need to make big government less profitable to the people who keep making it bigger.
