Why Congress does nothing

Congressman Buck reveals the Corruption on Capitol Hill
and explains the unwritten rules

We continue to find and share articles of interest to our followers.

This interview provides an inside look at Congress and the 

political machinations which put money first, leaving the 

wishes of the voters and constituents in the dust.

This explanation makes one of the strongest cases we've seen yet for term limits!

For Congressional Representatives:  Six terms of two years each.

For Senators,                                      Two terms of six years each

[Congresspersons could extend their influence by running for the Senate]

Click here for full article
BY FULL MEASURE STAFF 1 OCTOBER 2017

Congressman Ken Buck [CO-4th District] was interviewed and disclosed all the dirty tricks on Capitol Hill, and how it is that Congresspersons and Senators start off by pinching pennies but end their careers as multi-millionaires.  

A former federal prosecutor, Buck has been in Congress less than three years. He says his education from Washington DC’s school of hard knocks began right after his election during his orientation trip to the Capitol. 

Republican Congressman Ken Buck speaks out of school about the shocking, transactional nature of Washington politics. About Party elites he says, "live like kings and govern like bullies." And he's lifting the curtain on why he says nothing gets done in Congress, describing collusion between Democrats and Republicans to fleece taxpayers on behalf of special interests. 

For students of politics, think of this as an advanced course in PoliSci 400.
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Representative Ken Buck:
The game here is not to take a tough vote.
Nobody wants to take a tough vote, Democrats and Republicans, there’s a quiet conspiracy going on that
‘If you don’t make me take a tough vote I won’t make you take a tough vote.’

He says a “tough vote” means anything that cuts spending or programs that benefit political and corporate interests, and the result is that the ability to cut federal programs or to reduce spending in other ways, or to get our tax structure under control- simplify the tax structure is very, very difficult. And that results in higher spending.  He says it’s why Congress consistently spends wildly more money than it receives from taxpayers: $600 billion last year alone.

And, why the federal debt has been allowed to balloon to record levels:
the US owes about $20 trillion dollars it doesn’t have on hand.

Sheryl Attkison

Sharyl Attkisson [Interviewer]:
Is there an element of that Democrats and Republicans may appear to disagree with things in public and yet privately agree because sometimes they cater to the same interests?

Buck:
Sure, I think Democrats and Republicans disagree on some social issues and make a big deal out of that, and disagree on some other major issues. But for the most part, there’s agreement behind-the-scenes not to make waves and to get things done quietly. Not good things, but things that involve spending more money. If I scratch your back you’ll scratch my back.

Sharyl: 
Is what you describe what some Americans might call ‘The Establishment’?

Buck:
Absolutely. The Establishment consists of the Republican leadership and the Democrat leadership getting along and pretending not to. But clearly getting along!

And that’s when a lot of the rules were explained to us about the dues to the NRCC other requirements.[
[Buck said he was stunned to find the NRCC [National Republican Congressional Committee] just like its counterpart for Democrats,; it requires hefty party dues, especially if members hope to aspire to meaningful committee positions.

Ryan: RINO
[Married to DNC Strategist

Rep. Paul Ryan comments on fund raising:
Talk about a record $30.1 million right here in this room. 
Give yourself a big round of applause. 

Buck:
It’s mildly offensive to think that to serve on a committee in Congress you need to pay a private political organization dues, and that’s what they were asking for.

Sharyl:
Did you have any idea before you were elected that that was the case?

Rep. Buck:
I did not know that there were mandatory dues here, no.

Sharyl:
How did they tell you?

Buck: 
Ah, well it’s not a big secret. They have a big chart in the National Republican Congressional Committee offices, and you can see everybody’s name and the dues that they owe and how much they’ve paid.

Sharyl:
What was going through your mind when you started to hear this news?

Buck:
Well, as Freshmen we have to raise $200,000 and that’s a lot of money. You know I just finished campaigning and raising money, and now I had to go back to donors and ask them for money again.  Rep. He says to meet fundraising quotas, members of Congress spend hour upon hour of public work time asking for money from the very interests they’re supposed to oversee, ending up beholden to them instead of the public at large.

Sharyl: 
For people who really have no idea how things work up here, can you tell us how the special interests and corporate interests, for example, actually influence members? How does that happen? R

Buck:

Rags to Riches by election to Congress

It starts with committee assignments.

If you’re on the transportation and infrastructure committee, the transportation bill will come before your committee and all over town there will be receptions and the members on the Transportation Committee will be invited to those receptions, expected to attend those receptions and receive donations as a result of that.

They know the easy money, the low-hanging fruit, is gonna be at receptions that are given right before a major piece of legislation goes to committee.

Everything is called ‘across the street’ because at the Capitol behind me, you can’t accept money there. You can’t give money there, but once you walk across the street, then the bags open up.

Sharyl Attkisson: 
Restaurants around here?

Buck:
Restaurants: the Republicans, the Capitol Hill Club has a lot of different receptions and dinners. Industries paying for those receptions and dinners include tobacco, telecommunications, pharmaceutical, TV broadcasting, beer and wine, defense and Hollywood.

Democrats have their own fundraising hangout nearby: The National Democratic Club.

I’ve attended receptions where I’ve had 10, 12 corporations represented and they have made their case to me on why they need me to vote a certain way on a piece of legislation. And I know that if I accommodate them, I will have a reception later on where they will support me.

Sharyl Attkisson: 
You’re describing an entire system where almost every consideration that ought to be for constituents is instead about special interests and corporate interests and donations.

Buck: 
It surprised me when I got here and I’ve been involved in politics since I was a teenager, and getting to this place is really shocking to see the influence that money has in politics.

[Early on, Buck challenged GOP leadership on a vote he felt would give President Obama too much power on trade issues.  Republican leaders retaliated by trying to oust him as president of his freshman class. But he went on a public offensive and survived. He says he’s watched colleagues get punished for doing what they think is right instead of what party bosses demand; booted from committee positions and even denied dining room privileges.] 

Buck: 
The incentive structure right now is to vote for more money.
You never vote for less money, because someone’s gonna get mad if you vote for less money. And so as long as the American public doesn’t stand up and demand that members of Congress are accountable, Congress will continue acting the way it does.

Sharyl: 
Do you think a lot of people come to Washington really hoping it will be different and planning to work for their constituents and just find out it can’t be done?

Buck: 
I absolutely think most members come here with the best intentions. And I think within a year or two they realize that there is no hope of changing this place. And a lot of them leave fairly early on. Others become disillusion
ned and some others just settle into the swamp and enjoy it.

Sharyl Attkisson: 
I’ve not heard another sitting member of Congress talk about these things.
What happens to you now because of this?

Buck:
 You know I didn’t come here with any friends, Sharyl, and I’m not leaving with any friends and I’m okay with that. I didn’t come here to make friends. And so, if I’m gone in a couple of years, I did what I came here to do and that’s hopefully make Americans aware that this place is broken.
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Buck says solutions include requiring a balanced budget meaning Congress wouldn't be able to spend more money than it has and they'd be forced to make the tough choices they now avoid and term limits to restrict the number of years people can serve in Congress.
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Buck reveals the unwritten rules and outlines the allegations in his book: 
“Drain the Swamp: How Washington Corruption is Worse than You Think.”
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[Will Congressman suffer the fate of House Majority Whip, Steve Scalise, who chairs the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations - and perhaps, investigated a bit too closely for comfort?]

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Editorial Update:

Ed Buck won his 2022 reelection bid for a fifth term in Congress - winning 61% of the vote

Draining the VA Swamp

Draining the VA Swamp

Click here for full story

President Trump signed a new EO [Executive Order] entitled 

"Improving Accountability and Whistleblower Protection"

at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

This EO addresses a portion of the myriad of bureaucratic issues, and particularly the widespread and embedded corruption documented and reported on for the past eight years, and historically, with no action taken by Congress to reform these problems.

The EO addresses endemic problems in the 150+ VA hospitals throughout the country, many of which have been cited for corruption, incompetent or belligerent staffs, and generally, a failure to provide treatment and support for Veterans.  It also addresses the unwieldy and seemingly ineffective VA bureaucracy which routinely delays and denies legitimate claims because the claims reps simply don't feel like doing their job.  It appears it is much more fun for bureaucrats denying these claims and frustrating Veterans than actually doing their job

VA Waiting List Scandal

One of the biggest opponents of reform in this process has been Senator McCain, but we'll address that issue in a separate blog post as his position on Congressional Committees impacts the Active Military, and importantly, his blocking of data on countless US POWs reportedly alive and officially abandoned in Vietnam.






This EO, to be employed and enforced by the VA Secretary, Dr David Shulkin, will consist of three primary issues:

1)  Creates an office at VA dedicated to "accountability and whistleblower protection", reporting directly to the Director to identify barriers that are "... preventing us from removing employees and people we have identified that should no longer be working at VA".

-- In effect, it's a "You're Fired policy" which would reverse the embedded hatred policy evident in a number of VA regional offices, and at the VA Hospital in Washington, DC where we have witnessed outright hostility by administrative personnel driving Veterans into a rage to force them out of the system -- based on the Veteran's "instability".

    a)  It will also terminate the endless bureaucratic delays by which the VA administrators have created countless barriers to a Veteran claiming benefits.  A personal example involves the VA's demand that we show "documentation of 'BOOTS ON THE GROUND" to claim benefits for Agent Orange, in spite of a four year tour "on the ground" which included a variety of combat medals as well as Vietnam Service medals, and deployment medals.

    b)  Since our Officer Efficiency Reports did not specifically state that we engaged in classified Special Operations in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, VA administrators initially denied benefits.  We requested they obtain our records, and they then sent us a five page document  with the entire content, including VA document number and date redacted.

    c)  Eventually, we overcame much of this bureaucracy, but noted that fellow Veterans without our persistence were left high and dry.  In this process, we spoke with a VA shrink who described a homeless Vet who was denied treatment judged to be crazy because he claimed to have operated in Cambodia; we provided the shrink with a full description of the individual and the classified operation that he worked under -- and he now receives benefits.

    d)  Basically unresolved is the issue of how to guarantee benefits for all combat Vets who operated in covert or classified status since their records do not specifically state [for a reason] where they were operating or when [e.g., Laos, Cambodia, various places in the Middle East and Africa, and on special assignment to deal with Special Weaponry].

22 Suicides per day

   e)  Also yet to be addressed is the massive death toll among Veterans committing suicide, an issue essentially dismissed by the VA, which should be held accountable.

   f)  A footnote, as yet unreported in any detail is the issue of the overworked, understaffed psychiatric doctors and specialists who suffer from overwhelming depression when they are unable to
address the needs of their suicidal patients.
The issue here is that there is a large number of these psychiatrists who themselves commit
suicide when beaten down by an uncaring VA bureaucracy.

  g)  A final issue to examine is what appears to be a VA DEATH PANEL, in which treatment  Veterans is denied or not recommended based on age or severity of illness/injury.  These decisions are made via private contractor consultants who are hired by VA to "... establish claims eligibility"; the "physician" conducting these evaluations are often foreign and have no concept whatever of the Veteran's ailments, and their contract is for simply filling out a VA form.  Among these contractors are Quest and LHI, with which we have had personal experience in this process.

2)    Effective 28 April 2017, the VA will partner with the Department of Health and Human Services to supplement VA medical personnel with medical professionals drawn from the Public Health Service.

3)  An initiative to detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse in the VA Department.  

Demoted, but not fired

This initiative follows an 18 month Comey-led FBI investigation which produced no progress in the face of blatant fraud in the VA.

It will be employed and enforced by professionals brought in from both the Private Sector and other components of the government to examine -- with a fine-tooth comb -- major construction contracts, pharmaceutical contracts, track records of questionable health care providers, and administrative delivery of benefits to Veterans.

These professionals will examine the fraudulent contracts which enriched regional directors and hospital administrators, leaving operational equipment and facilities severely lacking.
Some examples found by the new Inspector General so far:

   a)  VA Medical Center in Washington, DC put the 98,000 Veterans it serves at risk stemming from the use of Dirty Equipment, lack of necessary medical supplies, and the possible use of recalled equipment.

   b)  Since 2014, the DC VA had 194 Patient Safety Reports regarding "the unavailability of equipment or supplies."

   c) In June, 2016, surgical staff used expired equipment during a procedure because of "...the lack of an inventory management program".

   d) More than 27,000 items purchased by the facility -- at a cost of more than $150 million -- were unaccounted for as of March, 2017.

e)  The Carl T Hyden VA Medical Center in Phoenix reportedly allowed patients to die while awaiting appointments, while bureaucrats falsified "wait-time" data to collect performance bonuses.  The director of that Center was Sharon Helman, who admitted taking at least $50,000 in contractors' gifts [aka: bribes], was tried, convicted, and placed on two years probation.

Helman accepted these "gifts" from Dennis Lewis, a former VA executive who retired and became a lobbyist, securing millions of dollars in VA contracts from Helman.  Although charged with falsified appointment data, whistleblower retaliation, and falsified conflict-of-interest statements, the Merit System judge dismissed the criminal charges, leaving the US District Judge, Steven Logan, only able to convict/sentence her on the administrative charge.

   f)  In a variety of cases, to include Wisconsin and Texas, administrator violations and corruption have been tied to the deaths of a number of Veterans.


4)  The long range target of this EO is the capacity to hold the three million VA employees and administrators accountable for criminal actions, to include corruption, fraud, negligence, and incompetence -- and to perhaps reform the Civil Service system which provides shelter for these criminals.

We encourage President Trump to fully implement his EO and to pursue all his options.  We quote Jarrett Stepman's American Legislative Exchange Council policy paper.

"By stripping the bureaucratic class of their special protections that few 

other americans enjoy through comprehensive Civil Service reform, 

Trump can fulfill his Inaugural promise, and ensure that when 

the People speak, Washington has to listen!"