WASHINGTON — After every congressional session, the revolving door on Capitol Hill usually churns out a number of free agents for K Street. It’s the strip in Washington made up of lobbying groups.
“You have a bunch of people that get elected, and then they stay there for 20 or 30 years,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Green Bay. “And then when they leave office, they use that office in order to get rich, in many cases, lobbying on behalf of the very same industries that they were conducting oversight when they were members of Congress.”
The numbers paint an even clearer picture of how common this job jumping trend is in Washington. The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics tracked congresspeople who retired in January 2019 and out of the 59 members who picked up a new job, 27 found it in a lobbying firm. Now that it’s seemingly becoming more common, Dan Auble , a senior researcher at the center explains why there's incentive for lawmakers to get into the lobbying game quickly.
“That allows monied interests, really, to exert more influence by relying on the rolodex of the former member working there intricate knowledge of the complex way that Congress works,” said Auble.
While not illegal, Rep. Gallagher is calling it corrupt. This month, he introduced a bill that would potentially shutoff the Capitol Hill to K Street pipeline.
“My bill is designed to stop that by preventing former members of Congress from becoming lobbyists for five years, extending the cooling off process so that we don't have this conflict of interest and we don't have careerists monetizing the office,” said Rep. Gallagher.
Former Pres. Donald Trump made a similar promise early on in his tenure. He asked his administration to sign an ethics pledge that would create a buffer between their time in the White House and K Street but rescinded that order durning his final days in office.
“I was very discouraged by it,” said Rep. Gallagher. “I mean, for it to happen on on the last day of the administration. My gosh, I think it just shows you how powerful the swamp is. And I think it was an insult to a lot of us who spent four years fighting to drain the swamp.”
Other presidents like Barack Obama and Joe Biden also issued executive orders with similar ethics rules.