Congressman describes parallels to ‘House of Cards’

The television series “House of Cards” has some parallels to the modern Congress, according to one GOP congressman. 

Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) said some in Washington are only interested in gaining power for the sake of power, comparing them to the Netflix show’s sinister protagonist, Frank Underwood, a fictional House majority whip who became president. 

{mosads}”He is a caricature, but there are folks who are back there whose desire is just to continue to be there,” he told a local blogger earlier this week. “They want to accumulate power for the sake of accumulating power. As opposed to accumulating influence in order to achieve an agenda — something you want to get done for your constituents or for America.”

The congressman, elected in 2010, joked that Congress doesn’t rise to the level of Underwood’s tactics. “To the best of my knowledge nobody has killed anybody since I’ve been there,” he said. 

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the real majority whip, has joked that his job would be a lot easier “if I could just kill one member of Congress.” 

Pompeo said the horse-trading that goes on for votes is not as bad as it once was due to the ban on earmarks, which took effect prior to his election in Congress. He said he would oppose reinstating them. 

“So you know, it is a television show, but you do see at time, especially, as I’ve seen them get going and rally votes, when they are trying to accumulate enough votes to pass legislation, the whipping process,” he said. “That process exists.”