[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 58 (Wednesday, March 29, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H3970-H3971]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          MORE ON TERM LIMITS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman form Maine [Mr. Longley] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LONGLEY. Madam Speaker, I think sometimes it is appropriate, 
again, to reflect a little bit on history. I happened to be sitting in 
the well this evening and looking up to the ceiling. Just behind the 
speaker's platform and above the clock is a saying on the wall and it 
is a very appropriate quote. It says, ``Let us develop the resources of 
our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all 
its great interests and see whether we also in our day and generation 
may not perform something worthy to be remembered.''
  Those words were uttered by Daniel Webster, a former member of this 
body and a former member of the United States Senate.
  Intrigued by that, I happened to check his biography and noted that 
he served in both the House and the Senate, that he first served in the 
House for 4 years, was defeated, took 6 years in the private sector, 
ran again for the House, this time from another State. Initially he had 
been in New Hampshire, moved to Massachusetts, and then switched, ran 
for the Senate, served 14 years, resigned, spent 4 more years in the 
private sector and ended his career in the Senate with a term of 4 
years before he resigned in, I believe, 1851 or 1852.
  I mention that because there has been a lot that has changed in this 
country since men of the caliber of Daniel Webster served here. Let us 
hope that the actions that we take today and in the future will 
encourage more men and women of his caliber to serve in this body.
  But I was very torn today on the issue of term limits. As many may 
know, my State enacted a referendum in the fall of 1994 imposing a 6-
year limit, which I intend to honor, and which I believe is binding on 
representatives from the State of Maine. But given the fact that we 
were presented with a bill tonight on the floor that did not provide me 
with the required degree of certainty that it would not preempt State 
law, I voted against the bill and I did so reluctantly. But I want to 
add a message because it would be inappropriate to say that the debate 
has taken place entirely on this floor. Because I think the debate has 
taken place across the country in all 50 States and in the thousands of 
communities that make up this great land.
  I think the people are speaking very loudly and clearly that they 
want some form of system that will guarantee that the lack of 
professionalism in the sense of people making a lifetime career out of 
service in this body, and we have seen enough information about the 
longevity of service, I think an average of some 25 or 30 years, 
particularly for committee chairs, and extended service by others well 
past their prime of life and well past their ability to display the 
type of sensitivity to the private sector that we would like to see 
displayed by representatives in this body. And so I call upon the three 
groups that have been active across the country, the groups supporting 
the 6-year term limit, the group supporting the 8-year limit, and the 
group supporting the 12-year limit, to get together and, in the words 
of our speaker, be prepared to support H.R. 1 on the first day of the 
next session that will somehow or other find a way to respect the 
difference in the diversity among the 50 States and provide for a term-
limit because that will allow us to have once and for all one standard 
that we can apply in this country and not 
 [[Page H3971]] confront representatives such as myself with a very 
difficult dilemma where we are being asked to support a concept that we 
believe in very deeply but, yet, which we find at odds with the laws of 
our own State.
  Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to serve in this body.
  

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