Ken Buck opens up in final interview, revealing Congress secrets

Former Colorado Republican Rep. Ken Buck shared some of his greatest frustrations and lifted the lid on how Congress works in an interview airing several retiring lawmakers’ thoughts on how the House is operating.

Buck, who started representing Colorado’s 4th Congressional District in 2015, announced his retirement, resigned early, and left his seat wide open. Late last year, he announced he would not seek reelection in 2024, citing “lying” from his party about the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol.

“It has been an honor to serve the people of Colorado’s 4th District in Congress for the past 9 years,” Buck said in a short statement announcing his exit from Congress.

As the 118th Congress grapples with high levels of unproductiveness due to party infighting, Buck unloaded on the institution during an exit interview with the New York Times.

“One of the most frustrating experiences for me was the antitrust legislation concerning Big Tech,” Buck said. “They have so much money and so much influence on the Hill that we just can’t move forward on those issues.”

“The frustration of being in the House and being told all the time, ‘This is how you need to vote,’” Buck said. “The part of me that wanted to stick around because I believed we could get more things done died.”

His frustrations echoed his claim about “corruption” in Congress. Buck said he was shocked by the demands put on him to fundraise specific dollar amounts if he wanted to be on various committees and how those demands increased for more powerful committees that have a wider reach. Buck described the process as “buying” his positions in the House.

“I was told at the beginning that I had to raise $250,000 if I wanted to be on certain committees, and if I wanted to be on more important committees or committees with broader jurisdiction, I needed to raise even more money,” Buck said. “Buying a committee seat is not something most Americans know that members of Congress have to do.”

Buck also opened up about his $174,000 salary and the difficulties that come with it as he earns more than the median worker he represents but not so much that making trips between his district and the Capitol is easy.

“If I go back to my district, where the average salary in some places is $32,000, and I say, ‘I don’t make enough,’ when I make $174,000, they would go ballistic,” Buck said. “I’d be out of office in a heartbeat, and yet, I’m trying to maintain two places to live, have clothes in two places, have a car in two places. It’s very difficult.”

Buck also said he was “worried” he was not giving his grandchildren the same world his parents had given him.

“Social Security will be bankrupt within a few years, Medicare the same way,” Buck said.

“We can’t sustain $34 trillion of debt. Right now, the incentive is to spend all the money that we don’t have and put the burden on our grandchildren because I get to go back to my district and tell people in my district, ‘I got that bridge for you. We improved this interstate highway.’ We have no spending discipline,” Buck said.

As a solution, he said incentives in Congress need to change.

“A very simple solution: You need to change the incentive structure. For example, members of Congress don’t get a salary unless they balance the budget, or they don’t get to run for reelection unless they have reduced the amount of spending,” Buck said. “Responsible government is the best way to move forward.”

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Buck said that to limit division, members of Congress should live in Washington as they did in the 1970s and 1980s, bringing their families with them. It would allow congressmen to get to know each other on a “social basis.”

“There was less divisiveness. There was less hate,” Buck said. “Now, getting back to the district is essential, so I can see why it’s shifted, but the shift has caused some of the dysfunction in Congress.”