Hey buddy, can you spare a few bucks? Checks accepted, cash preferred.

So why is Rep. Andy Barr (R, KY) all smiles?  Because *cha ching* he was one of the lucky congressional Freshmen who was appointed to serve *cha ching* on the House Financial Services Committee *cha ching*.  Screw the lottery.  This is where the REAL gold mine is!

This is the committee, along with the Senate Banking Committee on the other side of the Capital, that oversees all of the banks, insurance companies, etc.  And these are the committee members who both party's look to to bring in the Big Buck donations.  And right now they're delivering like FedEx....$9.4M just this year so far.

This is such a desirable committee to serve on that it has been increased over the years from 44 to 61 members, which required a whole new tier of seats to be installed in their meeting room.

So how do they raise so much money, you ask?  They're "good listeners".  In exchange for patiently listening to the bankers tell them how badly they want certain new rules written, or NOT to be written, the banks shower them with campaign contributions.  

Example:  Rep. Barr heard them say how much they wanted to keep a certain federal tax break that saved them $500M a year, so he introduced a bill that would put it out of reach of reformers.  

And when the do-gooder's put into the Dodd-Frank Banking Reform Bill a requirement that banks do more thorough checks on applicants they made mortgage loans to to make sure they could make the payments, they "casually mentioned" how much it would cramp their style (read: hurt their profits), and Mr. Barr introduced legislation that kept that pesky 'ol rule from being enforced.  

Yep, not much gets by the Honorable Representative Andy Barr (R, KY).  He listens really well!

And if you think I'm just picking on Republicans and that Democrats are above all this, I have some beautiful oceanfront property in Kansas I'd like to sell you. 

After the recent election Democratic Party leaders gave a PowerPoint presentation to their newly elected members urging them "to spend as much as four hours a day making fund-raising calls while in Washington, and an additional hour of 'strategic outreach' holding breakfasts or 'meet and greets' with possible financial supporters.  That adds up to more time than these first-term lawmakers were advised to spend on Congressional business."  (NYT)

The sad thing is, nothing I've mentioned here gets even a raised eyebrow in Washington.  This is just business as usual.

It seems the financial interests are very well represented in Washington.  My question is, who is looking out for ME?  Everyone agrees Washington is a nasty cesspool and that everyone there is a crook....except for their representative, "and he's a really good guy!"  

And the mugging continues.

S