Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ted Cruz said they want to ban former members of Congress from lobbying for life. | Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images congress Ocasio-Cortez, Cruz strike Twitter pact to work together on lobbying legislation

Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez set aside their Twitter bickering Thursday to strike an unusual bargain: an agreement to work together on a bill to ban former members of Congress from lobbying for life.

The Texas Republican and the New York Democrat made the pact on Twitter after Ocasio-Cortez tweeted a report by the watchdog group Public Citizen on the number of former lawmakers who’ve headed to K Street this year.


“I don’t think it should be legal at ALL to become a corporate lobbyist if you’ve served in Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

Cruz, who’s feuded with Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter before, tweeted that he agreed, suggesting it might be “a chance for some bipartisan cooperation.”

Ocasio-Cortez responded by proposing a deal: “If we can agree on a bill with no partisan snuck-in clauses, no poison pills, etc - just a straight, clean ban on members of Congress becoming paid lobbyists - then I’ll co-lead the bill with you.”

“You’re on,” Cruz responded.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) added that he was “IN.”

Cruz and Ocasio-Cortez aren’t the first lawmakers to propose banning their former colleagues from lobbying. Sens. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) introduced a bill to do so in February, and Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (R-Ind.) introduced a companion bill in the House.

It's unclear whether Ocasio-Cortez and Cruz would sign on to the existing bills or introduce their own. Neither of their offices immediately responded to requests for comment.

More than a dozen former members of Congress have joined lobbying firms so far this year, although not all of them plan to register as lobbyists. Others have announced plans to start their own consulting firms.

Former senators are currently banned from lobbying Congress for two years after leaving office; former representatives are banned for only one year. Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, who’s now a top lobbyist, famously resigned from the Senate in 2007 right before Congress extended the ban for senators from one year to two.

President Donald Trump proposed during his 2016 campaign extending the ban for members of Congress and their staffs to five years, but there’s no evidence his administration has pushed to do so.

Former lawmakers are allowed to immediately lobby the executive branch — including any former colleagues who have taken jobs in the administration.

“A lot of my closest friends are the people I came in with — Mike Pompeo, Mick Mulvaney,” former Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), who joined the lobbying firm K&L Gates after losing reelection, told POLITICO earlier this month.

Pompeo, the secretary of State, and Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, were first elected to Congress in 2010, the same year Denham arrived in Washington.