D.C's new odd couple: AOC, Ted Cruz team up to drain the swamp

May 30, 2019, 10:20 PM UTC / Updated May 30, 2019, 10:26 PM UTC

By Dareh Gregorian

Politics doesn’t make much stranger bedfellows than this — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ted Cruz struck a deal on Twitter on Thursday to work together on an anti-lobbying bill to stop the infamous revolving door.

Ocasio-Cortez, the self-described democratic socialist from New York, and Cruz, the staunch conservative Republican from Texas, found common ground after the Democrat tweeted out a Public Citizen article on the large number of recently retired Congress people who’ve taken lobbying or policy-influencing jobs.

“If you are a member of Congress + leave, you shouldn’t be allowed to turn right around&leverage your service for a lobbyist check,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “At minimum there should be a long wait period.”

A short time later, former Republican presidential candidate Cruz tweeted, “Here’s something I don’t say often: on this point, I AGREE with @AOC Indeed, I have long called for a LIFETIME BAN on former Members of Congress becoming lobbyists. The Swamp would hate it, but perhaps a chance for some bipartisan cooperation?”

Here’s something I don’t say often: on this point, I AGREE with @AOC Indeed, I have long called for a LIFETIME BAN on former Members of Congress becoming lobbyists. The Swamp would hate it, but perhaps a chance for some bipartisan cooperation? https://t.co/jPW0xkH2Yy

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 30, 2019

The freshman Democrat replied “if you’re serious about a clean bill, then I’m down. Let’s make a deal.”

She said if they can agree to legislation “with no partisan snuck-in clauses” then “I’ll co-lead the bill with you.”

“You’re on,” Cruz replied.

Cruz has worked across the aisle before — he co-sponsored a bill with another New York Democrat, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, aimed at reforming how the military handles sexual assault — but is also one of many Republicans who’ve mocked Ocasio-Cortez.

The pair sparred on Twitter in April, after she tweeted about having to pay $7 for a croissant at the airport while workers are being paid less than $15 an hour.

“Oh the humanity! Here’s the answer: government-mandated FREE CROISSANTS FOR ALL. And we’ll just force the bakers to give all of their time for free. #SocialistLogic #AprilFools,” Cruz wrote.

Ocasio-Cortez responded with a tweet that didn’t mention Cruz directly: “It’s not an argument against the price of a croissant — it’s about the value of human worth. But I guess that idea is foreign to them since their policies treat people as disposable anyway.”