Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., won an unlikely ally after she proposed banning former members of Congress from becoming lobbyists: Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.
“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 on Thursday. “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.”
Cruz tweeted in response: “Here’s something I don’t say often: on this point, I AGREE with [Ocasio-Cortez] Indeed, I have long called for a LIFETIME BAN on former Members of Congress becoming lobbyists. The Swamp would hate it, but perhaps a chance for some bipartisan cooperation?”
Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet included a link to a study from Public Citizen, which found that “Nearly 60 percent of former members of the 115th Congress who have taken jobs outside of politics are now lobbying or have other jobs influencing federal policy.”
The congresswoman did not directly respond to Cruz on Twitter, but did continue to tweet about the consequences of such a ban, including the need to have “a nearly-impossible discussion about Congressional pay.”
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