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US73 - The Congressional Conflict of Interest Act
| Make it illegal for members of Congress to join the lobbying industry after their public service | |
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Description
Congress has become a career stepping stone into lucrative private sector lobbying industry jobs. Stop our government from becoming a training ground for corporate cronies.
Arguments
See this from rootstrikers.org
2 Topics
Discussion
Discussion/poll at DailyKos (1 reply)
89% favor the idea (40 votes). The biggest concern is that government should make no unreasonable or unnecessary restrictions on people's occupations. Wisper says:
1. The 2007 Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (signed by President Bush) already prohibits House representatives and their staff from lobbying for 1-year, and Senators and their staff from lobbying for 2-years after leaving office. It also imposes a 2-year ban on Cabinet Secretaries, imposes restrictions on lobbying for Indian tribes, limits gifts and traveling expenses for members of Congress, prohibits use of private aircraft, etc.
2. There is no legal precedent to statutorily limit people's options of work or profession, except in the case of a non-compete clause (which by the way are ILLEGAL in California). And even where they are legal they have to be limited in time, demonstrate a legitimate business need, and can not have an undue impact on their ability to earn a living.
You could NEVER put any kind of "lifetime ban" on the books. A single lawsuit will have that thrown out in a second.
Related Ideas
| Restrict federally registered lobbyists from joining congressional staff or committee staff for three years. More detail | |
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last reply by GregOrr on Oct 11
How about the opposite direction... (1 reply)