Rep Jolly: Change the rules and stop members of Congress from asking you for money

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Rep. Jolly: Change the rules, get Congress back to work

Rep. David Jolly, (R-Fla.), on Donald Trump’s campaign and how his STOP Act proposal would curb lawmakers’ fundraising.

My name is David Jolly. I’m a sitting member of Congress and the
current Republican frontrunner to replace Marco Rubio in the United States Senate. And I’m about to share with you two truths.

The first truth is every member of Congress is expected to spend more time raising money than they are solving the problems you elected them to fix.

The second truth is this: I’m not going to do it. And if legislation I’ve introduced this week passes, no member of Congress can ever do it again.

You see, Americans wonder why we haven’t defeated ISIS, secured our border, provided health care for veterans, or balanced our budget.

Here’s why. Too many people in Washington are more focused
on raising money than doing the job you elected them to do.

Let me peel the curtain back.

It hasn’t even been two years since I was first elected to represent Florida’s Tampa Bay region in Congress. It was a special election where my Democratic opponent outraised me 3 to 1, in a district where President Obama had won twice previously, and where some in the GOP establishment turned their backs on me just days before the final votes were tallied.

Conceding that Washington has a money problem is not a new idea but now I've lived it firsthand. And what you may not know is how much time decent, law‐abiding members of Congress spend every day dialing for dollars – telling you, the voters who elected them, that they need your money.

Even more disturbing, this daily recess from doing their
official job is openly encouraged and, based on precedent, actually required.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently greeted an incoming crop of freshmen with a prescribed schedule that highlighted fundraising “Call Time” of four hours a day as the chief priority for any new member of Congress. The actual time they suggested working in Congress each day: Just two hours!

Every American should be outraged.

Unfortunately, the same standard also goes for Congressional
lifers. Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle confessed that “a senator has to raise $10,000 every day they’re in office – every day of their six years" -‐ just to get reelected.

And just this month, retiring Congressman Steve Israel, who ironically chaired the fundraising arm of the Democratic Party, lamented that he has spent roughly 4,200 hours on the phone asking people for money and attended more than 1,600 fundraisers while in office.

Think about it.

Instead of focusing the entirety of their attention on solutions to
improve your economic security or our country’s national security, too many of our elected officials are prioritizing a whole different kind of security – their personal job security.

We can't have a part‐time Congress in a full‐time world.

This quiet truth cuts the deepest each time we witness a terror threat like we saw in San Bernardino, or each time government fails our veterans, or each year we watch our national debt explode.

Think about it. Our nation is under siege by ISIS, and yet as my party’s best bet to win a U.S. Senate seat in Florida, I’m expected to be fighting for your safety from a fundraising call suite at party headquarters.

I won't do it.

It’s time members of Congress stop asking you for money and start doing their jobs.

That’s why I’m introducing legislation called “The Stop Act.” It simply says that that no member of Congress may personally ask you for money.

This does not mean that you as a citizen cannot choose to contribute to a candidate. It is your constitutional right of political speech to do so.

But let's close the integrity gap and the performance gap of our elected officials by eliminating their fundraising solicitations and put them back to work doing the people’s business – protecting our homeland, creating jobs, reducing the debt, standing up for law enforcement, and doing real constituent service work that benefits you.

This simple fix already applies to judicial elections in 30 states across the country. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld a Florida statute that bans judicial candidates from personally asking their supporters for campaign contributions, rightfully declaring that a "state’s decision to elect judges does not compel it to compromise public confidence in their integrity."
Why should Congress be held to a weaker standard?

That’s why I am asking you to join me in this effort to change
Washington forever.

Contact your representative and tell them to sign The Stop Act. Tell them to stop asking you for money, and get back to
work.

This may make a lot of folks in Washington uncomfortable, but it's about time.