Green Party View – Congress: A club on the take

By Rose Garrity

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of author Rose Garrity and are not representative of the thoughts or opinions of Tompkins Weekly.  

While “we the people” seem to have no control over what is being done by our government, there are those-unelected groups and individuals who have a great deal of influence over our legislation, spending, and foreign policy. We have been aware for many years that lobbyists, hundreds of them, visit legislators and beg, plead, suggest and PAY for favors.  Yes, bribery is very much alive and thriving in Washington, D.C.

If you find this a tad corrupt, you are in accord with much of American history, which viewed paid lobbying with suspicion and even deemed much of it illegal. It was only during the mid-20th century that lobbying began to be seen as a protected activity under the First Amendment.

There are many lobbies in Washington, such as those working for large corporations, “think tanks” (most of them conservative or even far-right) and religious organizations. Lobbying firms ply their trade in Washington, DC, to buy votes, loyalty and influence. To give you a small taste of the money controlled by the top nine lobbying firms working the halls of Congress, in 2023 their combined buying power was $288.5 billion dollars! 

Among the lobbyists is a huge presence always looking to advance wars, so that our tax dollars may be continually spent to pay out billions and billions of dollars for weapons of death and destruction, a huge chunk of the massive profits from purchases goes right into the pockets of our political representatives.

While lobbying per se is now legal if distasteful, there are some types of influence peddling that is still monitored. The Foreign Agents Registration Act aims to promote transparency regarding foreign influence on U.S. policy and public opinion and there are laws (18 U.S.C. § 219) that prohibit public officials from acting as agents of foreign principals.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a “tax exempt, non-profit organization” that regularly gives tens of millions of dollars to U.S. legislators to ensure that the U.S. government does the bidding of the Israeli government and its wealthiest donors. That is, to put the desires and needs of Israel before that of their constituents.

The U.S. government consists of 100 Senators, and 435 House members, a total of 535 legislators who decide the roles, rules and laws of the country, and make decisions about where our tax dollars are spent and how governmental decisions on foreign policy budgets are made. 

Of the 535 legislators covering every state in the U.S.  the current number of them who are paid huge amounts of money by AIPAC and other pro-Israel lobbyists to do the bidding of Israel is 518! No, this is not a typo. Only 17 legislators took none of this bribe money. Almost 97 percent of our elected senators and representatives are prostituted by the pro-Israel lobby. Of those who take no AIPAC money 10 are women and 7 are men. 9 of the 17 are people of color.

The bribes the legislators take range from a few thousand dollars into well over a million dollars. Just imagine how many millions of dollars of this lobby alone go into the pockets of those we have elected to represent OUR interests! 

Beyond buying legislators’ loyalty and congressional votes, AIPAC spends a great deal of money to influence elections, donating to candidates who will take their bribes and be loyal to their desires. Our Western media spent much air time denouncing the allegation, proven false, of Russian interference in our elections, but no time at all denouncing actual Israeli interference in our elections.

Here is the link that will allow you to look up your representatives and senators to see how much money they take just from this one lobbying source: trackaipac.com. It is stunning. 

Spoiler alert: for New Yorkers, Senator Schumer has received $1,727,974 and Senator Gillibrand $997,622 from AIPAC and other pro-Israel lobbyists. You decide if receiving that much money permits the elected official to vote for your wishes and interests or the foreign government paying him or her.   

Rose Garrity is a feminist activist, with a 45 year background writing, teaching and program administration and development in domestic violence, rape crisis and anti-racism activism.