ROOKE: 237 Years Overdue: Congresswomen Call For The Obvious After Claiming Declassified Files Show Interns Are Foreign Agents

Mary Rooke Commentary and Analysis Writer July 22, 2026 4:37 PM ET Since its founding, the U.S. Congress, the institution that writes the laws governing the world’s leading superpower, has operated with shockingly lax standards.Republican Florida Rep. Kat Cammack and House Speaker Mike Johnson are debating whether members’ staff should undergo routine criminal background checks and whether lawmakers should be barred from romantic or sexual relationships with the very people who draft, research, and shepherd the vast majority of legislation that shapes American life. While the two aren’t running their issues as a combined package, they should be because together they make up a glaring national security and institutional integrity failure. Asked about if he supports an idea to ban members fr