[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 58 (Wednesday, March 29, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H3969-H3970]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                              TERM LIMITS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Hoke] is recognized for 5 minutes.
   [[Page H3970]] Mr. HOKE. Madam Speaker, I want, first of all, to 
commend the gentleman from California [Mr. Kim]. He is a genuine 
American hero. Those were great remarks. Absolutely truthful, 
absolutely right on the money, right on the mark, cutting through the, 
well, I cannot say that, just cutting through it all. And really 
telling it exactly like it is. Maybe a lot of people are in mourning 
tonight because they feel like they have been betrayed by this Congress 
because the American public understands that term limits is the 
cornerstone of congressional reform. The public understands that.
  But do not be in mourning. Do not be in mourning. There is no reason 
to, because really, this is a situation of pay me now or pay me later. 
Vote for term limits tonight or your replacement will vote for term 
limits in 2 years.
  That is exactly what goes on here. What you are going to have tonight 
or what we have seen tonight is with the defeat of this bill, we are 
going to see a ton of replacements in two years.
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Madam Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. HOKE. I yield to the gentleman from Arizona.
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to 
me. It has been very interesting to listen to the debate, and I would 
associate myself in full with the remarks of the gentleman from 
California who preceded you in the well.
  But, Madam Speaker, it was very interesting earlier tonight to hear 
one of our friends on the other side talk about the ship Contract with 
America listing and creaking and the bow breaking and all these 
terrible things. Amazingly, and undoubtedly since so many members of 
the media in this town work in complicity with those on the left, I 
just think they have missed the story.
  The fact is that we pledged to bring 10 items to the floor for an up 
or down vote. And even though there is disappointment tonight, as my 
friend from Ohio mentions, the fact is there is cause for jubilation 
because now we have enjoined the dialogue. And coming from a State in 
which the major
 city is named Phoenix, I assure the American people tonight, Madam 
Speaker, that this issue will again rise from the ashes.

  Mr. HOKE. Let us look at the numbers on this. The fact is the 
Republicans voted 189 yes, 40 no. That is about 82, 83 percent of the 
Republican Conference voted in favor of term limits. On the other hand, 
Democrats voted 38 yes, 163 no; 80 percent of the Democrat Caucus voted 
against term limits. Who defeated term limits? Democrats defeated term 
limits.
  Who is going to be defeated in November of 1996? Well, the public 
will decide. The public will decide. But what I would urge, right out 
there tonight, there are people who should be stirred. There are men 
and women who have thought, I want to serve my country, I have 
something to offer. I have wanted to do this for some time, but I have 
not had the courage, the motivation, the specific interest, the 
specific initiative to do this. Doggone it, there are 22 States out 
there that have already enacted term limits. Or is it 24? Twenty-two?
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Twenty-two.
  Mr. HOKE. Twenty-two States have enacted term limits; 24 million 
people in this country have voted for them. They have carried by a 
margin of 70 to 80 percent in every single one of those States. In each 
of those 22 States, there are men and women who ought to use this as 
their issue, because if your representative voted against term limits 
in one of those 22 States, that representative is saying, I know better 
than the people. I do not care what the people say. I do not care that 
70 or 80 percent of the people demand that we have limited terms. I do 
not care that the public understands that this truly is the cornerstone 
of congressional reform, that this is the way that we are going to 
eliminate congressional careerism forever.
  I do not care because I know better. And I know better because, gosh, 
after all, I have been here 20, 30, 40 years. How else would I not know 
better?
  Those people should be inspired tonight and they should grab this and 
take this opportunity and get involved. And this is your campaign issue 
for November 1996.
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Madam Speaker, I think the gentleman from Ohio has 
noted, as many of us have, during the course of these first 100 days, 
that indeed many folks who walk to the chamber in fact become walking 
advertisements for term limits, walking examples of the reasons why we 
should enact them.
  Let me pause here to make a distinction because I also want to point 
out that good people can disagree and no doubt others will follow us in 
the chamber, making distinctions of conscience, of conviction, but we 
abhor the gamesmanship that was played during the course of this 
debate, really spurning the notion of what the will of the people might 
be.


                          ____________________