D.C. insiders rush to cover their punch bowls
by Tom Sullivan
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has introduced two major bills in the same week. (“Too-o-o-o-o-o-o freaking MUCH!” said a New York Times reviewer when Tom Wolfe published two books on the same day in 1968.)
Warren’s first, the Accountable Capitalism Act, we discussed here on Saturday. It is nothing less than an attempt to save capitalism from its worst excesses.
A sign Warren’s Accountable Capitalism Act has hit its mark are the squeals from the right. A hyperventilating Kevin Williamson claims in the National Review the Accountable Capitalism Act calls for “the wholesale expropriation of private enterprise in the United States, and nothing less.” Adding, “utterly bonkers.” A blog headline at Reason blasts, “Elizabeth Warren Plans To Destroy Capitalism By Pretending To ‘Save’ It”.
As wonky as progressives can be, pundits from the right easily match them. Both miss what normal people know — normal people don’t do what I’m doing now — but the former law professor from Oklahoma does not.
Employees who start hearing “shareholder value” know they had better start looking for new jobs. Theirs are going bye-bye. The newly unemployed shrug, shed tears, pack their belongings, and go looking for their next opportunity to be treated as chattel. That’s just the way things are, they’ll hear. But deep down they know something is wrong with the way things are. They might not be able to put a name to it, but they sense it. They feel it. They work for an economy that doesn’t work for them. Warren thinks it’s time we did something about it.
Here is what else normal people know. “Americans know that they have a government that isn’t working for them,” Warren said in a speech to the National Press Club on Tuesday.
Warren’s followup punch, a nearly 300-page Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act dropped on Tuesday and must have sent D.C. insiders rushing to cover their punch bowls. Except with #TrumpfellasTuesday news alerts booming like a trailer voiced by Don LaFontaine, Warren’s roll-out may have been lost among the headlines announcing convictions of Trump’s known associates. More the shame. This second bill is an attempt to save Washington from its worst excesses.
Lobbyists will not be happy, nor a lot of so-called “public servants.” Neither bill has co-sponsors.
The @realDonaldTrump era has given our country its most nakedly corrupt leadership of our lifetimes. But they didn't cause the rot – they’re just the biggest, stinkiest example of it. Join the fight for my new bill to #EndCorruptionNow: https://t.co/FaK9rJT0PI pic.twitter.com/dxHtovgcGL— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) August 22, 2018
Warren’s bill proposes a strong set of reforms:
1. Padlock the Revolving Door and Increase Public Integrity by eliminating both the appearance and the potential for financial conflicts of interest; banning Members of Congress, cabinet secretaries, federal judges, and other senior government officials from owning and trading individual stock; locking the government-to-lobbying revolving door; and eliminating “golden parachutes”.
2. End Lobbying as We Know It by exposing all influence-peddling in Washington; banning foreign lobbying; banning lobbyists from donating to candidates and Members of Congress; strengthening congressional independence from lobbyists; and instituting a lifetime ban on lobbying by former Members of Congress, Presidents, and agency heads.
3. End Corporate Capture of Public Interest Rules by requiring disclosure of funding or editorial conflicts of interest in rulemaking comments and studies; closing loopholes corporations exploit to tilt the rules in their favor and against the public interest; protecting agencies from corporate capture; establishing a new Office of Public Advocate to advocate for the public interest in the rulemaking process; and giving agencies the tools to implement strong rules that protect the public.
4. Improve Judicial Integrity and Defend Access to Justice for All Americans by enhancing the integrity of the judicial branch; requiring the Supreme Court follow the ethics rules for all other federal judges; boosting the transparency of federal appellate courts through livestreaming audio of proceedings; and encouraging diversity on the federal bench.
5. Strengthen Enforcement of Anti-Corruption, Ethics, and Public Integrity Laws by creating a new, independent anti-corruption agency dedicated to enforcing federal ethics laws and by expanding an independent and empowered Congressional ethics office insulated from Congressional politics.
6. Boost Transparency in Government and Fix Federal Open Records Laws by requiring elected officials and candidates for federal office to disclose more financial and tax information; increasing disclosure of corporate money behind Washington lobbying; closing loopholes in federal open records laws; making federal contractors – including private prisons and immigration detention centers – comply with federal open records laws; and making Congress more transparent.
“These reforms have a simple aim,” Warren says in her press release, “to take power in Washington away from the wealthy, the powerful, and the well-connected who have corrupted our government and put power back in the hands of the American people.”
“Let’s face it: there’s no real question that the Trump era has given us the most nakedly corrupt leadership this nation has seen in our lifetimes,” Warren told the National Press Club. “But they are not the cause of the rot – they’re just the biggest, stinkiest example of it. Corruption is a form of public cancer, and Washington’s got it bad.”
Trumpers really want to drain the swamp? Warren has brought industrial-sized pumps. If you want to serve the public interest, serve the public interest and not your own, Warren insists, or else get a different job.
I’m sure the people who make big money off the current system will yell and scream and spend millions of dollars trying to stop these changes. And the all-day-long pundits and Washington insiders who live in the same neighborhoods and eat at the same sushi bars and go to the same book parties will say ‘this will never pass’ and try to color me naïve for even trying. But it’s that kind of self-serving group-think that’s allowed corruption to spread through this town for decades.
Warren better than anyone knows a hostile administration can neuter and even dismantle a new oversight office and refuse to enforce its rules. Even assuming she could actually get these bills passed — a huge if, and impossible under the current regime — keeping the teeth in them will be an ongoing challenge.
But the first will be getting them passed in the first place. The upside of introducing these hot entrees without co-sponsors is Warren did not back off on the spice to suit colleagues with sensitive palates. Other caucus members will be in the position of explaining why they are not for better corporate citizenship and not for cleaner government.
These are not new fights for Warren, writes Ella Nilsen at Vox:
Taken together, the Accountable Capitalism Act and the Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act are a return to Warren’s bread-and-butter issues, ones that she’s been hammering home since she was a Harvard Law School professor who helped establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after the 2008 financial crisis.
Warren was instrumental in helping police the big banks and corporations after 2008, and she has plenty of big ideas to transform the current system. Of course, there’s no way this bill will pass the current Republican Congress — it would probably also have a steep path in a Congress filled with Democrats. This bill is more of a mission statement as Warren explores a 2020 presidential run, and a gauntlet thrown for other 2020 Democrats.
That last is perhaps the pair of bills’ maximum present value, now, and not just for 2020. Cynics (progressives among them) will argue these proposals are a publicity stunt. Since there is little chance of them passing anytime soon, or ever, why get behind them? Um, because Democrats fancy themselves the champions of the little guy? Because working people in red states and blue are tired of getting screwed? Because 99 percent of us want elected representatives who will fight for someone besides the 1 percent? Because otherwise what’s the point?
“What do Democrats stand for?” critics on both the left and right ask. Fellow Bay State resident Charlie Pierce wrote last week, “It is not often that you see a politician put a stake in the ground, run a big bright flag up it, and declare that this is where I stand, dammit.” Elizabeth Warren has. Stand for that.
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