Reporter Columnist
Should members of Congress be term limited?
Most recently introduced as a constitutional amendment by Senator Ted Cruz, along with Indiana senators Todd Young and Mike Braun, term limits of course require office holders to step aside after a set number of years regardless of how much they doth protest.
Proponents of such an amendment say the true barometer of one’s effectiveness should be how many problems they solve, not how many terms in office they win. Critics suggest there are already term limits called elections and that limiting service in this way would further empower those without vote casting power (i.e., staff, lobbyists, etc.) and deprive Congress of representatives who become effective issue experts.
But term limits are an already accepted practice in many states. Twenty-one states in fact have enacted some form of term limits for legislators between 1990 and 2000, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Fifteen remain in effect while the other six have been repealed either by State Supreme Court rulings or the legislatures themselves.
So while it’s a popular idea in some quarters, at least in terms of proposed legislation in Washington, implemented legislation in the states and rhetorical flourish across the country, is it the best answer to Washington’s gridlock?
When questions like this arise, I find it instructive to look even further to the states where specific elixirs have been bestowed upon us in the hopes of forcing officials to put on political blinders long enough to focus on the task at hand, not the next election.
For instance, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii and Texas all have imposed a rule called resign-to-run, whereby a candidate aspiring to higher office must truncate their current term before campaigning for the next office.
In May 1996, Bob Dole, then majority leader of the U.S. Senate, did exactly that when he voluntarily announced he would resign the following month to “stand before you without office or authority, a private citizen, a Kansan, an American, just a man” in his quest for The White House. His gambit failed, of course, as President Bill Clinton was elected to a second stint.
Each of the five states with resign-to-run laws achieves the broad goal to varying degrees. Texas’ law only applies to someone holding a specified local office announcing a candidacy one year and 30 days prior to their current term ending, whereas Georgia’s triggers only when someone actually wins a primary, general or special election and there is an overlap of more than 30 days with their current office. Florida and Hawaii, however, both have blanket prohibitions against running for offices that have overlapping terms, but neither applies to federal offices (in the case of Hawaii, that interpretation came through a State Supreme Court ruling, and in Florida from a U.S. District Court).
Then there’s the effort to prevent Pavlovian political shenanigans, or at the very least, compel officials to break the deadlock to fulfill their duties and adjourn before loading up campaign coffers.
In more than a handful of states, from red Alabama to blue Vermont and places in between, there are limitations on what types of contributions members of the state legislature can receive while in session. Some ban any and all contributions while others specifically prohibit donations from lobbyists.
Would Congress spend more time debating and passing laws rather than shaking hands on the rubber chicken circuit with a similar law in place?
None of these, if enacted by Congress, would erase partisan political pressures from the board completely. And each face obstacles to even get to that point. So while there is certainly merit to each of these approaches, it’s unlikely they will find a way to Washington.
Pete Seat is a former White House spokesman for President George W. Bush and campaign spokesman for former Director of National Intelligence and U.S. Senator Dan Coats. Currently he is a vice president with Bose Public Affairs Group in Indianapolis. He is also an Atlantic Council Millennium Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations Term Member and author of The War on Millennials.