[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 57 (Tuesday, March 28, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3817]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TERMS LIMITS A BAD IDEA

  (Mr. RICHARDSON asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, term limits are a bad idea whose time 
has not come. We already have term limits. They are called elections 
every 2 years. We do not need another constitutional amendment to 
change what the voters already have done, and that is change the 
Congress and the political system.
  Since I came to Congress 12 years ago, 75 percent of the House has 
changed. If you want entrenched bureaucrats, if you want lobbyists and 
if you want staff to run the Congress, then vote for term limits.
  It is also hypocritical for Members to vote term limits but exclude 
themselves from the law.
  Mr. Speaker, campaign finance reform is what is needed. Let us put 
elections on a more equitable basis, let us have a gift ban, let us 
have ethics reform, but let us not use term limits as the ruse for the 
problems that exist in this country.
  Term limits are a bad idea and I am proud to say that.

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