Politics

Two Senators Introduce Bill To Keep Members Of Congress From Cashing In As Lobbyists

Jim Young/Getty Images and Alex Wong/Getty Images

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Evie Fordham Politics and Health Care Reporter
Font Size:
  • Freshman Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Braun of Indiana are the cosponsors of the Banning Lobbying and Safeguarding Trust (BLAST) Act.
  • Scott and Braun want to put an end to lawmakers stepping into the so-called “revolving door of K Street” — using their connections to become well-heeled lobbyists once they are out of office.
  • Already, at least 15 members of the past Congress have made the move to lobbying firms.

Two Republican senators introduced legislation to ban members of Congress from lobbying Congress once they exit office, and although the lawmakers are “barking up the right tree,” their solution might not be realistic, a government transparency expert told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Braun of Indiana are the cosponsors of the Banning Lobbying and Safeguarding Trust (BLAST) Act.

“You generally do see more of a reform agenda from some of the newer members that come into the Senate or into the House. We’re hoping some of their policies actually gain traction and can be supported in a bipartisan way,” Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, told TheDCNF in a phone interview. “The public is tired of politics as usual.”

Scott and Braun want to put an end to lawmakers stepping into the so-called “revolving door of K Street” — using their connections to become well-heeled lobbyists once they are out of office. Current law mandates ex-House members must wait a year to lobby their former colleagues, while ex-senators must wait two. (RELATED: Trump Weighs In After DNC Says Fox News Can’t Host Primary Debate)

“I’m proud to introduce this bill that imposes a permanent ban on members of Congress becoming lobbyists. Rather than serving the public, too many in Washington spend their political careers preparing for a lucrative job at a DC lobbying firm where they can cash in on their connections and their access,” Scott said in a statement March 1.

“One of the reasons I left the private sector for Washington was to help President Trump drain the swamp and we can accomplish this by permanently banning Congressmen and Senators from lobbying Capitol Hill. Together we can end the revolving door of career politicians coming to Washington, spending time in Congress, then enriching themselves from their service to the American people,” Braun said in a statement March 1.

Already, at least 15 members of the last Congress have made the move to lobbying firms, according to MarketWatch. They include former Democratic New York Rep. Joe Crowley, who hopped over to major lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs, former Republican Indiana Rep. Luke Messer, who is now at Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting, and former Republican Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl.

The Revolving Door

Kyl is the “Featured Revolver” on the Center for Responsive Politics’ website after he returned to work for lobbying law firm Covington & Burling following a four-month appointment to the Senate that ended in January.

(L-R) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Vice President Mike Pence and former Sen. Jon Kyl greet one another before a meeting in McConnell's office in the U.S. Capitol July 10, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

(L-R) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Vice President Mike Pence and former Sen. Jon Kyl greet one another before a meeting in McConnell’s office in the U.S. Capitol July 10, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Kyl’s appointment sparked concern since he would be able to vote for then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh — after acting in his capacity as a lobbyist as Kavanaugh’s “lead sherpa” for the beginning of his Senate confirmation process. Kyl voted yes on Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

“The reason why we have revolvers in the first place is they’re deemed to be rather valuable. If you have gone from working on the Hill with members of Congress, as a chief of staff or legislative assistant, somewhere in that realm, to now working on K Street lobbying for the pharmaceutical industry or a gay rights organization, you are established enough to know all of these people you’ll be taking meetings with,” Center for Responsive Politics spokesman Brendan Quinn told TheDCNF in a phone interview.

These crossovers can be lucrative.

“Salaries are considered definitely higher” than congressional salaries, Quinn told TheDCNF, even though senior members of Congress can rake in roughly $200,000 a year.

Possible Side Effects?

Scott and Braun’s bill could have unintended consequences, Bruce Mehlman of lobbying firm Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas told TheDCNF.

“The bigger challenge is that registered lobbying represents only a small part of the total spent on influencing government policy, and this proposed law would merely encourage even more ex-Members to avoid disclosure while serving as ‘senior advisors,’ ‘strategists’ or ‘consultants at law and PR firms,'” Mehlman told TheDCNF in an email.

Quinn pointed out that Scott and Braun are already wealthy. Braun’s exact net worth is unknown (it’s reportedly somewhere between $35 million to $96 million), while Scott is worth more than $230 million, according to the Orlando Sentinel in 2018.

US senators Marco Rubio (L) and Rick Scott speak to reporters after a meeting with US President Donald Trump on Venezuela, outside of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC on January 22, 2019. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

US senators Marco Rubio (L) and Rick Scott speak to reporters after a meeting with US President Donald Trump on Venezuela, outside of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC on January 22, 2019. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

“They don’t need to think about where their next paycheck is coming from,” he told TheDCNF.

Scott’s office is adamant that “Congress shouldn’t be a place where people come to permanently live off the taxpayers,” Scott spokesman Chris Hartline told TheDCNF in an email.

“They shouldn’t spend their political careers trying to find a way to capitalize on their connections and their access. There’s plenty of jobs besides lobbying that former members can do. In fact, there’s 250,000 job openings in Florida. Former members should apply for one of those jobs. The weather’s nicer,” Hartline continued.

The split Congress has a chance to restore public faith in government with bills like this one, Amey told TheDCNF.

“One of the things you hear a lot when talking to people who are frustrated with the way government works, they think government makes a lot of its decisions based who you know, the lobbyists that visit these offices,” Amey said. “Those lobbyists don’t often speak for the general public.”

TheDCNF reached out to Kyl but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Follow Evie on Twitter @eviefordham.

Send tips to evie@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel