Relatives have 'inside track' in lobbying for tax dollars

USA Today reports:

USA TODAY examined the family ties between lobbyists and the 94 members of the House and Senate appropriations committees, as well as 250 top staffers who serve those members. Those committees control the federal government's purse strings, allocating hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars each year.

The family connections between lobbying and lawmaking are prompting complaints that Congress is not doing enough to police itself. No rules or laws prevent lawmakers or their staffs from being lobbied by relatives, and proposals to address the practice have stalled on Capitol Hill.

Neither lawmakers nor lobbyists must report if they are related to each other, so USA TODAY reviewed thousands of pages of financial disclosures and lobbyist registrations, property records, marriage announcements and other public documents to identify which lawmakers and staffers had relatives in the lobbying business.

The newspaper found 53 cases in which relatives of lawmakers or their top aides worked at lobbying firms last year. In 30 instances, those relatives, or firms in which they are principals, sought money in the appropriations bills their family members or their family members' bosses helped write. Of those 30 relatives, 22 succeeded in getting specific language inserted in the bills that guaranteed money for their clients...

Big government means massive rent-senking.Who better to confiscate taxpayer's money than relatives of government?