Tyranny of the Committee

As fun as it is to make fun of our glorious premier Josef Bidenov I would be remiss if I did not remind you that the primary power of the state lies in congress, and that the insidious nature of the deep state lies not in the presidency and other significant positions but the masses of petty bureaucrats and congressional committees. I will go as far as to say that a handful of Diane DeGettes and Robert Byrds are more powerful than a single Joe Biden. Even so, when people think of corruption in high places, they think of the accusations of nepotism tossed at Trump or Hunter Biden smoking crack, banging chinese spy-hookers (or his niece...gross) and selling meetings with his father to people with the money to pay for such, however, they rarely think too much about their local congress critter and the countless dollars they take from various corporate cronies to ensure their place on a committee they’re under-qualified to be on. Congressional corruption is not only more common and more widespread than executive corruption but an even larger problem due to the power that Congress and the pencil pushers behind both Congress and the major political parties hold over the way our government is run.

Those who have taken even introductory and high school level Civics and US Government classes should be able to rattle off how a bill becomes a law, usually starting with “first a bill, introduced by congressman A will go through a committee.” But the question is, how do these committees work? How are committee members chosen? Who works for these committees. How much power do they have? Congressional committees are among the most looked over in the congressional system, which is not a good thing considering they are where most “action” happens in the US lawmaking process [1]. Most bills will not be presented before and voted on by Congress without being approved by the committee holding jurisdiction over the bill.

Congressional committee members are chosen by their respective party, with proportions usually based on party proportions in their respective chambers, with exceptions given to the congressional ethics committee, which is purposely bipartisan (not that bipartisan means anything in the grand scheme of things). Requirements for Congress members being on certain committees vary by committee to committee, party, and even vary between the house and senate but are set by the respective party’s steering committee. Steering committees are appointed by their respective parties, with the Democratic party having a single steering and policy committee and the Republicans having a designated steering committee, membership of which is voted on by the representatives of each party.

The primary way parties claim to choose committee members is seniority. A system inherently susceptible to corruption as the longest-standing congress members are most likely to have under-the-table corporate sponsors. However, in many cases, donations and payouts to the party have massive influence over who gets on what committee. “I think a lot of people would be surprised to find out that members of Congress are expected to pay their party for committee assignments,” Thomas Massie, a congressman of Kentucky’s 4th congressional district, said in an interview for HBO documentary “The Swamp”. “This is like $200,000 to $500,000 every election cycle just to get a certain committee seat.” When a bill can be stopped dead in its tracks or passed through Congress with few issues based entirely on who is on what committee, it makes sense that lobbyists and special interest groups would pay for a few congressmen to get on certain committees which, according to Massie is precisely what happens, saying: “Where are you going to get that money? You’re not going to go back home and have a fundraiser in somebody’s living room.” [2] With the committee system being so broken, almost seemingly broken by design, it would make sense that the positions of highest power lie on congressional committees. Still, it seems like no one ever talks about how broken the congressional committee system is.

One particular issue that shows the widespread congressional corruption is the unequal adaptation of antitrust laws. Despite being a significant player in the computer industry since 1984, Microsoft spent virtually no money on lobbyists until after the first antitrust inquiries and lawsuits were launched. After they paid out their money to Congress, the appeals court overturned the ruling declaring Microsoft a monopoly. Similar things to the Microsoft case have been happening in recent years with companies like Facebook and Twitter spending barely any money on lobbyists, Congress threatening antitrust lawsuits, Facebook and Twitter increasing their spending on lobbyists, and these antitrust cases quietly going away.

The blatant bribery associated with big-tech antitrust cases is far from the only instance of high-level members of Congress taking corporate money. Before the significant pharmaceutical hearings in 2019, Forbes published a list of the senators who took the most considerable amount of money from pharmaceutical lobbyists. 

Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) - $119,000


Rob Portman (R-Ohio) - $113,000


Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) - $107,000


Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) - $101,000


Tom Carper (D-Delaware) - $100,000

When you consider the extreme reliance the individual congress critter has on, let’s call them what they are, bribes to get anything done, and when you think how much power Congress has compared to the other branches (for good reason), it’s a shame that much of the congressional corruption is rarely even talked about, and when it is spoken of it’s spoken of as if congressional bribery is simply a fact of life. The two examples of consequences of Congress’s dependence on bribery mentioned above are simply the tip of the iceberg. Yes, corruption in all branches of government is problematic and worthy of being brought to light, but knowing where the real power lies and where most corruption happens puts the overall political landscape into perspective.