The Levin Letter: We Need to End Corruption in Washington
Every session of Congress is a test of whether Washington is actually working for the American people. Right now, too many signs point in the wrong direction. Public trust in our institutions is eroding, and public opinion of Congress is at an all-time low, for good reason.
That is why I recently helped launch the End Corruption Caucus, a new effort dedicated to advancing legislation aimed at rooting out corruption in government and restoring faith in our institutions.
This is not about partisan point-scoring. It is about holding the powerful accountable to a standard that most Americans, conservative and liberal alike, already agree on: government should work for the people, and no one should use public office to enrich themselves.
Let me be direct about what prompted this effort.
The current administration’s Justice Department recently attempted to create a $1.8 billion fund to compensate the President’s political allies who claim they were targets of unfair prosecutions. That is your taxpayer money placed at the disposal of the Executive Branch to reward political loyalists. It is unprecedented and unacceptable.
I would say the same thing if a Democratic administration did this, because there is no version of it that is right, ethical or legal. Everyone who has spent years fighting government waste and the misuse of public funds should be among the loudest voices objecting. That principle cannot change based on who sits in the Oval Office.
But the problem does not stop at the Executive Branch. There is a serious issue that implicates members of both parties in Congress. Elected representatives should not be trading individual stocks while in office. Full stop. This is not a fringe position. An overwhelming majority of the American people have already reached a verdict on this. Congress simply has not listened.
The reason the public feels so strongly is not hard to understand. When lawmakers sit on committees that set policy for specific industries while buying and selling shares in the companies affected by those policies, citizens have every right to ask whose interests are actually being served.
That is why I have joined a bipartisan group pushing legislation that would require every member of Congress to divest individual stock holdings within 180 days, with no loopholes, no blind trusts and no excuses. And the political conditions to get this done are better than they have been in years. House Speaker Mike Johnson, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and President Trump have all expressed support for a congressional stock trading ban. We should not let that moment pass. We must act now.
I understand that many Americans may be skeptical of these anti-corruption efforts. Too often, politicians raise alarms about corruption only when the other side is the one misbehaving. That approach is dishonest. The End Corruption Caucus is built on one consistent standard: no one in elected office should use public power to enrich themselves or reward their allies, Republican or Democrat.
The only way to earn back trust is to show that we mean it and that the rules apply to everyone equally.
Nearly half of Americans say they have very little confidence in Congress. That is not simply partisan frustration. It reflects a genuine and legitimate concern that Washington has stopped working for ordinary people. Banning congressional stock trading and ending the use of taxpayer funds as political rewards will not solve every problem, but it will send a clear and necessary message that accountability is not just a talking point.
The American people have earned that much, and I intend to keep fighting until we deliver it.
By: Rep. Mike Levin
Source: Picket Fence Media