The worst thing that has ever happened to the Capitol Building? “Air conditioning,” says Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn.
Burchett joined “The Signal Sitdown” at the Republican Study Committee’s new media row to discuss how a group he calls the “war pimps” came to dominate Washington—and what he’s doing to try to stop them.
Installing air conditioning in the Capitol, Burchett said, gave members of Congress the wrong impression: “These guys think they need to be year round,” he said, “I do more work when I’m at home, brother. This is a show up here.”
Burchett explained that “a war pimp is somebody who profits off war and or that enjoys war because it furthers their career.” And this advancement is not only political, but financial.
Members of Congress, like Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have often been criticized for trading stocks while going about their work on Capitol Hill drafting and passing legislation that will have large economic impacts, leading to massive returns.
Perhaps nowhere is this behavior better demonstrated than with members of Congress who are charged with appropriating defense funds while being invested in defense companies.
A report published by Sludge in September 2024 found that “more than 50 members of Congress own stock in defense contractors whose profits are soaring from giant Pentagon budgets and supplemental weapons packages.”
The analysis found that the two defense companies members of Congress were most invested in, in 2023, were Honeywell and RTX (formerly Raytheon). Honeywell is known for its sensors and missile-guiding technology, which is used by the Israelis. RTX, meanwhile, makes missiles for Israel’s Iron Dome.
It’s not just the war in Gaza or aid to Israel, however. The war pimps don’t care what war it is, they just want their cut.
“Look at Ukraine,” Burchett told The Daily Signal. “Under [President Joe] Biden, we gave Ukraine our missile defense system … then you turn around and you have to replenish our missile defense system, which is a multibillion-dollar no-bid contract.”
“Members of Congress own stock in that missile defense company, and apparently some of them bought it as soon as a couple of weeks before the president officially made that announcement,” Burchett continued. “So you’re in that dadgum committee and you get that information, you buy stock in it.”
Burchett, however, said he is trying to end the practice on Capitol Hill with a bill that would ban members of Congress from owning or trading individual stocks.
“Congress is infinitely broken and we are crooked as a dog’s leg.”
