By Eli Rosenberg
Eli Rosenberg
General assignment reporter covering national and breaking news
February 13 at 10:22 PM
It is one of Washington’s more peculiar practices, but most locals have long accepted it as a way of life: paying people to wait in line to get prime seats at Capitol Hill hearings.
Line-standing or line-waiting is a small but visible example of how money affects politics in D.C. — how people with resources buy access to lawmakers as they deliberate legislation. The practice, which is expensive but not illegal, has long been a popular one for lobbyists.
Enter Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who is experiencing life as a legislator in Washington for the first time — and sharing her often-critical reactions to the experience on social media.
On Tuesday, she had just left a hearing on homelessness when she saw people queued in the hallway of the Rayburn House Office Building, waiting in line for a Committee on Financial Services meeting on banking and the marijuana industry, she wrote on Twitter. Her staff told her they were line-waiters.
“Shock doesn’t begin to cover it,†she wrote. “Apparently this is a normal practice, and people don’t bat an eye.â€
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/02/14/ocasio-cortez-learned-lobbyists-pay-people-avoid-waiting-lines-hill-shes-not-pleased/?utm_term=.270b62b93f69