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US congressman reveals seats on committees are ‘literally’ bought — Analysis

Seats on Congress’ most powerful committees are literally offered for sale to special interest groups, said Representative Mo Brooks

Alabama Representative Mo Brooks said in a Friday video, Congress cannot pass legislation beneficial to the average American because of an entrenched corruption system. Brooks stated that the chairmanships for committee chairs are charged by both parties at $1 million per member, with lobbyists paying only to those who can afford them.

“Special interest groups run Washington, and I don’t mean that metaphorically. I mean literally,”Brooks spoke to supporters during a March event, which Lauren Windsor (conservative pundit) shared video footage from on Friday.

Brooks states that legislators who wish to become the chairman of major committees should apply to Brooks. “have to purchase it.”The National Republican Congressional Committee, (NRCC), or Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will charge Congress members a fee to serve as chair of a two year-long committee.

Brooks said that although the cost of a chairmanship is dependent on its importance, the starting price for one-tier chairs starts at $1 million. The representative that an unnamed candidate ran for the NRCC presidency literally displayed representatives “a brochure”Brooks claimed that he knew the prices and had divided his pricing into three tiers. Brooks also boasted that he will charge less than some other candidates.

Those who can’t afford to cough up a million dollars take donations from special interest groups, and are then beholden to these lobbyists once in office, Brooks continued. 

“Now you understand how the public policy debate is so corrupted,”He said.

Giant Ukrainian US lobbying campaign revealed

Officials of the Party deny any payments linked to committee assignments and refer to this system simply as “paying”. “dues.”But, there have been criticisms.

“They told us right off the bat as soon as we get here, ‘These committees all have prices and don’t pick an expensive one if you can’t make the payments,’”Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie (R), said that in 2016, the payments were as follows: “extortion”Refusing to pay.

Massie described how he was a lobbyist earlier in his career. “the medical device sector”Offer to pay for the seat he would get on the House Ways and Means Committee. A powerful position that could see the Kentucky Republican influence tax policy, Massie wrote. Massie stated that the unspoken assumption was that Massie would then owe his favor to the lobbyist.

“It was one of the scummiest meetings I’ve ever been in,” Massie said. “I left just reeling, thinking about the implications for how this place works, when you realize that the lobbyists pick who goes on which committee.”

Brooks and Massie are not the mainstay of the Republican Party. Brooks, currently running for the US Senate is seen as an a. “MAGA” candidate by establishment Republicans, yet has also been sidelined by Donald Trump himself, who withdrew his endorsement of the Alabama lawmaker last month due to Brooks’ insistence that the GOP move past Trump’s claims of fraud in the 2020 election.

Massie and Trump have fought before. But Massie’s recent dispute with Trump has attracted the ire of hawkish Republican establishment Republicans for his comments. refusalHe backed a resolution that promised open-ended military assistance to Ukraine, and sanctions against Russia. This he claimed would be detrimental to the country. “innocent people in Russia.”

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