Wetlands never get any love. Not even metaphorical wetlands.
As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump pledged to oust special interests from government by promising to “drain the swamp” in Washington. These three words may make for a clever chant. But Trump’s key proposals — hiring freezes for the federal workforce, term limits for Congress and a few cosmetic lobbying bans —are to ending corruption what bloodletting and leeches are to healing the sick. They won’t work, and they only make matters worse.
Sure, Trump’s swamp draining is actually more like trimming the grass around a water hazard, but even so, there are things in that swamp. Slow things. Old things. And they don't want to even pretend to move.
Reporter: Senator McConnell, do you agree the swamp should be drained and specifically, do you agree with the five year ban on lobbying?
McConnell: Uh, what I think we want to do here is …
What we should do is not answer the question, not answer the question some. Not answer it again. And finally …
McConnell: Not go back and relitigate what either side may have said during a very hotly contested presidential race.
Yes, because mentioning anything anyone promised during the race after the race is pointless. Especially for McConnell, who spent the whole campaign silently tucked into his shell so no one could ask him a single question about the Republican candidate.
While McConnell settles back in the mud, it’s worth noting that not only does Trump’s plan not address any real issue, but he’s packing his team with the people he says he hates.
President-elect Donald J. Trump, who campaigned against the corrupt power of special interests, is filling his transition team with some of the very sort of people who he has complained have too much clout in Washington: corporate consultants and lobbyists. …
The moves that Trump is making on registered lobbyists seem less designed to end lobbying than to make it invisible.
Instead of limiting the role of lobbyists, his efforts would push lobbying further into the shadows and out of public view. Meaningful change — not “fake reform” — requires a different set of solutions, including improvements to the lobbying disclosure system and building up the institutional capacity of Congress.