[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 57 (Tuesday, March 28, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3863]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          SUPPORT TERM LIMITS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Hoekstra] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOEKSTRA. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow we will have an historic debate 
on the floor of the House. We are going to take another step in 
reforming the place where we do the people's business.
  Mr. Speaker, if we reflect back on what we have accomplished so far 
during this year, on opening day we made the agreements, and we have 
now implemented cuts of committee staff. We have reduced the number of 
committees. We have cut committee budgets. We passed a bill which would 
apply the laws that apply to the private sector now also make those 
apply to Congress. That bill has now gone through the Senate and has 
been signed by the President.
  We went on to reform the House. Republicans decided as we took 
control that we would limit terms of committee chairmen and chairwomen. 
We also decided that any individual Member could only chair one 
committee or one subcommittee. What we have been able to do is disperse 
power so that people like my colleague, the gentleman from South 
Carolina, Mr.
 Inglis, and myself, who have only been here two terms, that within the 
second term that we are here, would have the opportunity to chair 
subcommittees. So we are creating more opportunities for more influence 
among more Members of Congress.

  We went on to reform our process, additional reform for the House. 
This House of Representatives can be proud that we passed the balanced 
budget amendment. We can also express our disappointment that the other 
body failed to pass the balanced budget amendment. We have passed the 
line-item veto, and it looks like we are going to make progress in 
being able to take that through a conference committee and a Republican 
Congress providing a Democratic President with a line-item veto.
  Tomorrow we will have an historic debate. We will do something that 
many States have not had the opportunity to do, or that they have not 
had the courage to do, is we will have a debate, and we will have a 
vote on term limits.
  To date, what has happened with term limits around the country is 
that 22 States have considered state-imposed term limits, and in all of 
those States, they considered it through a process which I believe soon 
we are going to have to consider here on the floor of the House, is 
that they have returned power back to the people through an initiative 
and referendum process. They have not turned power back. What they have 
actually done is they have invited the people to participate with them 
in the process. It is interested to note that the only place where this 
kind of activity on term limits has taken place is where States have 
invited the people to participate with them in the legislative and 
lawmaking process of that State. No State legislature has passed term 
limits.
  Where we now go is tomorrow we are going to have the discussion on 
this floor of the House. I hope at the end of the day tomorrow that we 
will be able to say that we have taken another step in the reform 
process and that we will have had 290 Members of this House who have 
been willing to step up and say that we endorse and recognize the 
importance of term limits. We recognize the input and the value and the 
direction that the American people have provided to us that says we 
believe that we need a flow in and a flow out of Members of the House 
of Representatives.
  Remember, only 18 percent of the American people believe that we are 
doing a good job. I think maybe the recent polls show we may be all the 
way up to 32 percent. One of the primary reasons for that is they 
believe and they recognize that the policies and the directions and the 
laws that come out of this House bear only slight resemblance to the 
problems that they see in their local communities. They believe that by 
having Members coming in and flowing out, we will have better laws and 
better process; we will have Members coming in, moving out of real 
jobs, coming to Congress, and then moving back after they recognize 
that they have served here for a period of time. I do not think it is 
really all that important whether it is 6 or 12 years. I personally 
prefer 12. I will also vote for the--6-year-term proposal because the 
voters in my State have instructed me to support and to work for the 
passage of 6 years, but most importantly, to work for and push the 
concept of term limits for the House of Representatives. Mr. Speaker, 
it will be an historic debate. I am looking forward to the debate, and 
I am looking forward to Wednesday night when we can celebrate the 
passage of term limits.


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