Ted Cruz and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez agree to partner up on legislation

[ehrnst]

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz committed on Thursday to partner up with his political opposite, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to move legislation that would ban members of Congress from becoming corporate lobbyists after they leave public life.

The coming together played out over Twitter. Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, tweeted Thursday afternoon a statistic from Public Citizen, an ethics watchdog founded by Ralph Nader, stating that nearly 60 percent of members of Congress eventually go on to lobbying careers.

"If you are a member of Congress + leave, you shouldn’t be allowed to turn right around&leverage your service for a lobbyist check," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. "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://www.texastribune.org/2019/05/30/ted-cruz-and-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-agree-file-lobbying-ban-bill/

[lapfog_1]

1. as usual, "West Wing" has this covered

Season 1 Episode 20: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Bartlet: We agree on nothing, Max.
Senator Lobell: Yes, sir.
Bartlet: Education, guns, drugs, school prayer, gays, defense spending, taxes - you name it, we disagree.
Senator Lobell: You know why?
Bartlet: Because I'm a lily-livered, bleeding-heart, liberal, egghead communist.
Senator Lobell: Yes, sir. And I'm a gun-toting, redneck son-of-a-bitch.
Bartlet: Yes, you are.
Senator Lobell: We agree about that.

They go on to agree on election reform and removing dark money from politics (sort of like lobbying the people you were just serving with on a committee).

[ehrnst]

2. I know. However, around here lately "bi-partisan efforts" are considered "consorting with the enemy"

"establishment" or "foolish and timid," and "weak."

I hope that those among us here who take that position learn a little something from this.

[Sherman A1]

3. Super!

I hope that they can make progress on this topic.

[Hortensis]

4. Well, surprise. I'm afraid it's liable to show they do have

something in common in a way she at least doesn't intend. This has to be giving the dirty-pol Anointed One's colleagues a good chuckle. Calling for a lifetime ban will be more useful for getting attention than actually getting it passed into law. In other words, good issue, bad faith performance right out of the gate.

Which begs the question, why didn't she endorse Elizabeth Warren's call for a lifetime ban instead? May be highly unlikely to pass, but at least it's in the party that will be passing lobbying reform and Warren will be in the middle of that.

I keep hoping Ocasio will steady and develop into a solid performer. Lying down with dogs wasn't what I had in mind.

[empedocles]

5. Good questions

[betsuni]

6. K&R

[Cha]

7. wow.. bi-partisanship.

[ehrnst]

8. Imagine if this was any other Democrat rep 'working across the aisle"

I think that there would be much flaming going on from some parts of DU.

[Cha]

9. Right?