[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 57 (Tuesday, March 28, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3815]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     RESPONSIBILITY ON TERM LIMITS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 1995, the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Hoke] is recognized 
during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, this time this week we are going to consider 
for the very first time ever term limits in the House of 
Representatives. I just wanted to take the opportunity to talk about 
that for a couple of minutes this morning. Because one of the things 
that we are going to find out this week is exactly where every single 
Member of this House stands with respect to term limits.
  What we found out already is that the country as a whole is certainly 
in favor of the, 75, 80 percent. We now have term limits enacted in 21 
States across the United States. We have term limits with something 
like 35 governors. Obviously, the President of the United States is 
term-limited to two 4-year terms.
  The question is going to be before this House, will we have the guts, 
will we have the courage, will we, frankly, have the representative 
responsibility to go along with what the people of the United States 
want?
  You are going to hear all kinds of crazy arguments in opposition to 
term limits. The one that I like the best, the one that I think is the 
least credible is the one that says--

       This is a tough job that requires a great deal of technical 
     skill, and it takes a long time to get it. It wasn't true 
     maybe 100 years ago or 150 years ago, but now it is true 
     because government is really very, very complex, and it is 
     very, very difficult to understand all of it. And so the 
     longer that you are here the better that you get to know it.

  What I would say to that is that, frankly, to the extent that that is 
true and maybe in some aspects it is true, to whatever extent that is 
true, it means the Government is too big. It means that Government has 
gone out of control, and it has become too complex.
  What you need in a Representative are some fairly fundamental 
character traits. You have to understand that, first of all, there is a 
balance between leadership on the one hand and representation on the 
other hand.
  What does it take to be a good Representative in this Congress? It 
seems to me that it is pretty simple. What it takes is listening, the 
ability to listen, the ability to not talk, to shut up and to listen to 
what constituents say. What is it exactly that they want to have 
represented in the U.S. Congress? What concerns them? What is on their 
minds? What is on their hearts? What is it that they want to have 
amplified for them right here on the floor of this House?
  You have to balance that ability to represent by listening with 
leadership. What is it that we want in leaders? What is it that we are 
looking for? What qualities do we want for leaders and what is it that 
is important for leadership?
  I would say to you there are a number of things. There are a number 
of qualities. But certainly it is not a big mystery as to what you put 
together: good judgment, common sense, compassion, patriotism, a 
commitment to the future, a commitment to where we are going in this 
country, caring about our children.
  But I think that, fundamentally, common sense has got to be way out 
in front on this issue. Because without common sense, without a basic 
understanding of what makes the world go round, we will never, we will 
never be able to accomplish anything of lasting value in this House.
  Let us look back at some of the most famous Members of the House. 
Henry Clay. What did he bring to the party? First of all, he was here 
seven times. He served seven terms in the House and not one time did he 
run as an incumbent. Can you imagine that?
  Right now, the statistics are that if you are running as an incumbent 
in November for the House of Representatives, chances are 9 out of 10 
that you are going to get elected. They are actually greater than that. 
It is about 93 percent.
  The system is completely rigged from franked mail to campaign 
financing. All the way from soup to nuts it is rigged by us Members 
that are here right now to make it easier for incumbents to get 
reelected.
  Mr. Speaker, what you can see is that year after year after year, 
notwithstanding the elections in 1992 and 1994, if once you get to the 
general election if you are facing an incumbent, the incumbent wins 9 
times our of 10.
  If you look at the statistics on committee chairmen, which is a 
really scary one, and I use the word ``chairmen'' specifically because 
in the 103d Congress no women were committee chairs in the Democrat 
103d Congress, the average tenure of each of the Chairs was 28 years. 
Twenty-eight years.
  Is there any wonder that we have brought more legislation in the 
first 85 days of this Congress to the floor of the House than had 
brought up in the entire last Congress? Well, the reason for that is 
that this legislation had all been bottled up by committee chairs that 
had been chairmen on an average of 28 years. It is going to be an 
interesting debate, Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support all of the term 
limits bills that are going to be on this floor. We have got to limit 
terms here.


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