[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6787-6788]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1920
                      LIMITING CONGRESSIONAL TERMS

  (Mr. O'ROURKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. O'ROURKE. Today I joined Jim Bridenstine in filing a bipartisan 
constitutional amendment that would allow Congress to decide whether 
and how to limit the terms of its Members. Our measure would not 
prescribe the number of terms a Member would serve; but by giving 
Congress the power to ultimately decide, I believe it will foster a 
productive conversation about how to make Congress more responsive to 
the needs of the American public.
  Many in our country feel that Congress is focused on reelection to 
the exclusion of solving our country's problems. They are rightly 
concerned about

[[Page 6788]]

the enormous powers of incumbency and the corrupting influence of money 
as well as the uncompetitive, gerrymandered districts where the 
Representative chooses his constituency and not the other way around.
  We owe our constituents institutional reforms that address these 
concerns. Enacting comprehensive campaign finance reform, fixing the 
congressional redistricting process, and moving forward with sensible 
term limits can improve how Congress works.
  I urge all my colleagues to join in this reform agenda.

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