New Warren plan would build a wall between lobbyists and policy

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Elizabeth Warren rolled out a sweeping anti-corruption plan Monday that would toughen rules for wealthy and influential figures seeking to influence policy, hours before she intends to pitch it to voters in Wall Street’s back yard.

The plan seeks to build a proverbial wall between lobbyists and policy making, the latest plank in the Massachusetts senator’s platform of radical change to the U.S. political and economic system.

Warren’s proposal would ban all lobbying for foreign entities and prohibit lobbyists from donating to — or fundraising for — political candidates. It would also enhance required disclosures and tax entities that spend $500,000 or more per year on lobbying.

If enacted, the plan would expand the definition of a lobbyist to include “everyone who is paid to influence lawmakers.” It’d restrict their ability to work in government, prohibit elected officials and senior appointees from ever becoming lobbyists, and bar large companies and banks from hiring top ex-government officials for at least four years.

The 15-page document is the latest addition to Warren’s populist pitch for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. She argues that the U.S. economic system “has been rigged to prop up the rich and powerful and kick dirt in the face of everyone else,” as she said Saturday in Springfield, Massachusetts. In rallies and speeches, she tells voters that everything from tax rules to climate policy are shaped by legalized corruption.

“The goal of these measures is straightforward: to take power away from the wealthy and the well-connected in Washington and put it back where it belongs —in the hands of the people,” Warren wrote in a medium.com post Monday.

Warren’s message of drastic change mirrors that of Senator Bernie Sanders, with whom she’s in a close competition for second place in Democratic polls. The front-runner, Joe Biden, is running on a more modest center-left platform focused on “restoring the soul” of America and building on the legacy of President Barack Obama.

The Warren plan is packed with jabs at Donald Trump — she calls the president “a walking conflict of interest” — and some of his actions. She’d change campaign finance law involving “in-kind contributions” to bar the solicitation of political assistance like opposition research from foreign countries and making hush-money payments.

Warren’s speech on Monday evening will be held at Manhattan’s Washington Square Park. The Democrat gets more donations from the liberal New York City metropolitan than any other region, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from her FEC filings.