Dec 15, 2023
Corruption in Congress has once again gained center stage — this time, thanks to Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has introduced a new anti-corruption plan to “clean up” Washington.
“Our political system should not be for sale,” he said in announcing his Political Reform Resolution on Dec. 14.
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“Trust in the government has been declining for decades, and Congress must act with urgency to rebuild it.”
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Khanna’s resolution seeks change in both the judicial and legislative branches of the U.S. federal government through five key steps — including yet another attempt to ban members of Congress from trading stocks.
“All I want for Christmas is to clean up the corruption in Congress,” he remarked in the House before introducing his plan. “The American people on both sides are frustrated by the corruption in Washington. We need real change."
Cleaning up Congress
The Californian politician’s resolution calls for several fundamental changes, starting with a 12-year term limit for members of Congress.
He also proposes a ban on members of Congress from holding and trading individual stocks during their tenure. He is not the first (and likely won’t be the last) politician to try and tackle this specific problem.
Khanna says “lax” stock trading regulation has allowed lawmakers to prioritize their personal financial gain over the interest of their constituents.
In a similar vein, Khanna’s third reform would be to ban members of Congress and candidates for the House and Senate from accepting contributions from political action committees (PACs) and lobbyists. This is to stop lawmakers from focusing on the interests of wealthy donors and PACs — again, over the interests of the American people.
He also wants a lifetime ban on lobbying for ex-members of Congress, so that they can’t leverage their connections on Capitol Hill to land high-paying positions in the lobbying industry once their term in office is over.
The aim, Khanna wrote on X, is to “help get money out of politics.”
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Supreme Court reforms
Khanna’s colleagues in Congress aren’t his only targets.
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The need for Supreme Court reform, he said, “could not be clearer.”
In introducing his resolution, he highlighted several recent investigations that have “uncovered countless instances of justices unethically filing deficient financial disclosures, receiving extravagant gifts, and misusing staff.”
For example, a recent ProPublica investigation accused Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of secretly participating in Koch donor events, allegedly serving as a fundraising draw for the network, which has brought multiple cases before the Supreme Court.
Khanna is calling for a binding code of ethics for Supreme Court Justices, as well as 18-year term limits and regular appointments for future Supreme Court justices and for a new justice to be added and another to rotate off every two years.
These reforms, he claims, would put an end to lifetime tenures, which he says result in a “lack of accountability” and in a “Court increasingly polarized along partisan lines.”
“There are tangible legislative solutions for these problems,” Khanna commented. “We must pursue them as a comprehensive reform plan to rein in corruption.”
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Bethan Moorcraft is a reporter for Moneywise with experience in news editing and business reporting across international markets.
