Abramoff cites lobbyists’ advantage: ‘Members don’t read the bills’

Former lobbyist Jack Abramoff who served time in federal prison is making the rounds to talk about his new book and corruption in Washington.Jack Abramoff, the scandalized lobbyist who did time in prison for fraud and bribery, is making media rounds to talk about his new book Capitol  Punishment.

One takeaway came during an exchange with a reporter on 60 Minutes on Sunday.

The reporter had told Abramoff, after listening to some of his confessional about Washington corruption, “I’m mad at you.”

What was surprising is that the reporter didn’t choke on her words. If that’s the first time she said those words about a lobbyist, she shouldn’t be covering politics.

Abramoff explained how lobbyists craft language “so obscure…so uninformative” to make it easy to hide what’s really going on in a bill.

I’ve written about that, with particular emphasis on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaNotCare) bill. PPACA is so full of arcane language no one really knows everything that’s in it.

In August, 2009, I used the word ‘obscure’ to describe much of what’s in the original healthcare bill. As I read that bill, I wasn’t just mad, I was infuriated. Here’s a small sample:

"(a) Administrative Verification of Income and Resources Under the Low-income Subsidy Program-
(1) IN GENERAL- Clause (iii) of section 1860D-14(a)(3)(E) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-114(a)(3)(E)) is amended to read as follows…

What followed was a dilution of requirements—to get a federal subsidy all that was required was self-reportage.

Then Abramoff suggested it was easy to slip things in because, “Members don’t read the bills.”

Democrats in Congress publicly admitted not reading the bill they passed—the bill that will affect healthcare for every single American. Remember then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) saying Congress had to pass the bill ‘so you can find out what is in it’?

Despite changes brought about peacefully and legally as a result of the tea party movement so vilified by media, Washington is still a cesspool, according to Abramoff.

I’d agree with that—after all, consider companies like Solyndra who received taxpayer money from progressives, including the president, and laughed all the way to the bank. We still don’t know exactly how that half a billion taxpayer dollars was spent.

Republicans cleaned up their house in significant ways because of the tea party movement. We’re still waiting on the Democrats to follow suit.

Truth be told, there’s plenty of work for Americans to do in Washington regardless of party affiliation.

Related Links

Democrat health bill signed, sealed and delivering surprises (The US Report)

CBO can't gauge discretionary spending in HR 3590...'sufficient guidance lacking' (The US Report)

Index to healthcare articles at The US Report

(Commentary by Kay B. Day/Nov. 9, 2011)