Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) used her time at the House Oversight Committee’s hearing on the Biden family Wednesday to push for a crackdown on influence peddling more generally, even calling on the witnesses to weigh in.
“President Biden didn’t do anything wrong. There’s zero evidence of that. And still, both Democrats and Republicans and the media treat these hearings like the Super Bowl. But no one ever wins, and Americans always lose,” Porter told the panel.
“So I’ve got a fresh direction for this hearing,” the California Democrat said. “We should have a policy discussion about how to stop government officials from using their positions to get money or favors. Now, that is a real hearing.”
“We could start by talking about how senior executive branch officials can leave public service, wait just one year, and then legally become lobbyists for big corporations, scoring their new employers’ profitable government contracts and favorable regulations,” Porter continued. “They can even be paid by the big corporations during that short one year, while they are waiting to become lobbyists as a down payment for their future ability to peddle influence. That’s wrong.”
“By show of hands, as Americans, would our witnesses support extending this one-year waiting period to at least two years?” Porter posed to the panel of witnesses, which included two convicted criminals, one of whom is currently incarcerated.
All of the witnesses responded in the affirmative.
“Okay, so there we go,” Porter remarked. “Republicans, Democrats, even convicted criminals, everybody supports that we should do more to stop influence peddling.”
