And the second-term Republican is unlikely to make many more with Tuesday’s publication of his tell-all book, Drain the Swamp: How Washington is Worse Than You Think, co-authored with Bill Blankschaen.
In it, Buck says lawmakers are mostly “fat and happy alligators who feel pretty darn comfortable in the swamp.” He casts Republican leaders as “playground bullies” who go to great lengths, including yanking subcommittee chairmanships and canceling lawmakers’ overseas trips, to punish dissenters. And he decries a “pay-to-play” system in which plum committee assignments and leadership slots are tied to lawmakers’ fundraising skills instead of their policy expertise.
“The critical criteria for getting ahead is fundraising, and it’s a reality that the people you are going to raise money from want something" from Congress, Buck told USA TODAY in a telephone interview Monday. “A lot of members see the problem, but they want to get re-elected.”
Early in the book, Buck spells out the steep dues lawmakers are required to give to the House Republican campaign committee keep their seats on influential committees. As a member of the House Rules Committee — one of the five “A” committees that also include Appropriations, Ways and Means, Financial Services and Energy and Commerce — Buck said he must raise $450,000 over the next two years for the GOP’s House campaign arm if he hopes to retain his slot.
The chairman of an “A” committee must raise even more: $1.2 million, he wrote. It’s no wonder, then, that “some members of Congress spend at least half their time fundraising to keep their dues paid and campaign coffers full,” Buck said.
Buck, unlike some Freedom Caucus members, pays those dues, he said, because he wants his party to retain its majority in Congress.
