I'm a new Member of Congress, and sometimes the rules of this place are truly confounding to me. I want to tell you a quick story. (1/8)
One of my constituents came to me recently - she has cancer, and needs a bone marrow donor - quick! (2/8)
Her community is organizing bone marrow registration drives to help find a match for her, and for other people of South Asian descent, who are under-represented in bone marrow registries. (3/8)
I called the House Ethics Committee to see if my office would be able to promote the bone marrow drives being organized across the country for this purpose. Their answer: nope. (4/8)
It violates House Ethics rules for House members to promote private events, even for non-profits, and even to save the lives of our constituents. So I won't be promoting this event using my official House accounts or resources (because I can't). (5/8)
I'm telling you this because I want the American people to know how backwards our Congressional rules can be. (6/8)
I'm not allowed to promote bone marrow drives. Meanwhile, it's fine for politicians to spend hours and hours a week soliciting corporate PAC money. And it's fine for a politician to leave office and become a lobbyist for the industry they once oversaw. (7/8)
I understand the rules and I'm going to follow them. I also get why rules have to be strict because they could be abused. But for outsiders like me, sometimes this place just doesn't make sense. Lots of rules, not a lot of justice. (8/8)
