Are There Term Limits in the United States Congress?
- Written By: Jan Maxwell
- Edited By: Lucy Oppenheimer
-
Copyright Protected:
2003-2013 Conjecture Corporation
The U.S. Congress is made up of two parts, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Congressional term limits are legal restrictions on the amount of time that a person may serve as a representative or senator. In theory, term limits could be consecutive, limiting the number of back-to-back terms that a person can hold, or restrict an individual to an absolute number of years in office during his or her lifetime. As of 2012, there are no term limits in Congress.
Each member of the House of Representatives serves a two-year term. Senators are elected for six years. Many members of Congress have served multiple terms. The late Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia was elected the first time in 1958 and served until 2010. The House of Representatives contains members who have been there for over 50 years.
While there are currently no term limits in Congress, the idea has been debated for many years. The discussion actually got its start in ancient times, when both Greeks and Romans imposed term limits on certain offices. Limiting terms of office was also a subject of debate among America’s Founding Fathers. Washington and Jefferson argued in support of term limits, while Madison and Hamilton opposed them.
In the elections of 1994, part of the Republican platform was to pass legislation setting term limits in Congress. After winning the majority, they brought a constitutional amendment to the House floor.
It limited members of the Senate to two six-year terms and members of the House to six two-year terms. Because the Republicans held 230 seats in the House, they were able to get a simple majority. However, constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority, or 290 votes, and the votes to restrict term limits fell short of that number.
In May of 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against term limits in Congress in the case of U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton. By a 5-4 vote, the justices found that states could not impose them on the U.S. Congress. Since Congress had been unable to muster the required two-thirds majority needed for a constitutional amendment to pass, the matter did not come up in Congress again.
After the Supreme Court ruling, many Representatives made non-binding pledges to limit their own terms. Some of those Representatives stood by their word and left Congress, while others broke their pledges and continued to run for re-election.
The public is said to generally favor congressional term limits. A July 2003 Wall Street Journal poll found that two-thirds of Americans believed that giving Congress term limits was a positive idea.
Related Videos
Discuss this Article
|
anon314600
Post 24 |
Why not start a petition? We can get plenty of support especially with the Occupy Wall Street movement. |
|
anon311695
Post 23 |
Congress doesn't work for the American people. Once elected, they work for the bettering of themselves, and the hell with the American people. It should be a limited time they work, so if not they are not approved by the citizens of the US, we could get them out and replace them with others who will do what's best for the people. There has been no change through the years as the United States has revolved around all these long-term politicians. |
|
anon285530
Post 22 |
In February 2012, the US Senate voted on an amendment. The purpose of this amendment was to propose an amendment to the Constitution that limits the number of terms a member of Congress may serve. The vote was: Yea=24 and Nays= 75 with one not voting. You can check out the roll call on this at the senate website. |
|
anon172018
Post 21 |
Congressional term limits would almost if not eliminate unhealthy politics. Fresh new blood brings new ideas and methods into the playing field. Negotiate and compromise would have true value in supporting the folks who elected them into office. Term limits in the Supreme Court would limit left or right ideologies. They would preserve as well as represent the US Constitution. They represent "we the people" and as Americans, we should not accept anything less. By walking the walk and talking the talk, we can inspire the world. |
|
oosolo1
Post 20 |
There's no sense in complaining about term limits because there's not one lousy thing you can do about it! Do you really think those guys and girls are going to vote themselves out of a job? Nt! What we should do is have a law passed that would make it a federal offense for a lobbyist to do any kind of business involving the government or to even show up on the hill, with an absolutely certain jail term involved. Then, have another law passed that would put a limit on any contributions made by large corporations or rich people or banks to representatives that were running for office and that would include the president and anyone that is running for that office. I think that would curb a lot of this crap that goes on in Washington. |
|
anon158830
Post 18 |
As a "baby-boomer", when I was in school we were taught there were term limits on congressmen! The cancer that is killing American Democracy is the money spent on campaigns. How can a person raise 10's of millions and not favor that source's interests? I am sure that this is why Asian factories were allowed to run my industry (printed circuit boards) completely out of America. England is much smaller than USA, but they do have ceilings on their campaign spending. I am confident that the advertising agencies who earns millions off of campaigns are contributing back to those congressmen to not limit the money that can be spent on them! |
|
anon147819
Post 17 |
Do you really think your so called "vote" makes a difference? Do you people really continue to hold on to the myth that the Politicians are elected by you, the voter? Get real America. The government is run by the big banks, big corporations and that is all there is to it. They are the ones who pick and choose who will be the "Peoples representatives". It is a fact, live with it. |
|
anon137153
Post 16 |
I would like to sign up! Where do I go to sign up. --Dale R. |
|
anon137115
Post 15 |
I'm fed up with the current situation in congress and would like to see something done about it. |
|
anon111499
Post 14 |
Without the worries for corruption, are there any other issues about the term limits? I'm asian, so curious about your nation's political thing. I hope that i can reply asap. |
|
anon101098
Post 13 |
Where is the clarion call in support of the idea of "free market" regarding freedom to choose? |
|
anon70967
Post 12 |
While we sit around and wait on the lack of action of passing a term limits amendment by the people we elected in the first place, let's at least vote everyone of these people out of office and start with a clean house. What do we really have to lose? If all of you are fed up as much as I am let's start a movement that can be heard all the way to Washington! |
|
anon69601
Post 11 |
Term limits just end up increasing the influence of lobbyists. 1. Congressmen are now looking more towards their next job opportunity and less at what they're doing right now. Usually their best offers are coming from the companies that the lobbyists represent. 2. As much as we like to pretend that government is so simple, anybody can do it with a little common sense, the truth is that it's a series of enormously complex areas that you need a lot of knowledge to truly understand. If you are continuously throwing new people in there who don't have the knowledge base, they're going to listen to people who appear to - the lobbyists. |
|
anon67550
Post 10 |
term limits would be a way of limiting the influence the lobbyists have on any particular congressman or senator. their responsibility is to the american people, not lobbyists. --braid a. |
|
anon63493
Post 9 |
"We already have term limits. they're called elections!" -posted by a congressman no doubt. 90 percent of incumbents get re-elected. Enough said. there's a big problem here.
|
|
anon63233
Post 8 |
We already have term limits. they're called elections! |
|
smsm
Post 7 |
I agree there should be term limits. That's how I looked up this site. Where is the online petition? And there needs to be a petition for term limits for the supreme court as well. Those appointments can be you scratch my back I'll scratch yours just like the Congress! Nothing should be for life in Washington! |
|
Rip
Post 6 |
Term limits would be one of the greatest turning points of this country. "Provided we survive the current realm of complete corruption to initiate it." Another place we need look, and look hard at is the Supreme Court. We do not need these strongly biased individuals making our very important decisions for a life time. If not then we should limit only persons to be of age 65 and over after passing an IQ test and medical tests regarding mental illness related to age, to qualify for appointment. They should be of sound physical health. This would limit them to a more reasonable term. Life is getting short after 65. I know from experience. |
|
anon43581
Post 5 |
With the kind of corruption we are seeing today in our government this would be wonderful. It would stop special interest groups from helping to get things like Cap and Tax and this so called health reform bill through.
|
|
darlingdork
Post 4 |
What would be the impact of limiting the amount of years a person could serve in Congress? What would be the pros and cons? |
|
lplath
Post 3 |
where do i see the online petition? |
|
anon17481
Post 2 |
U.S. Term Limits has just launched an on-line petition for Congressional term limits. The goal is to compile a list of Americans who support this reform that is so enormous it cannot be ignored. |
|
lflinch
Post 1 |
Where can I find list of the Congressman that voted against a "Term Limits" Constitutional Amendment? Larry Flinchpaugh |
