Rep. Jamie Whitten, the longest-serving member of Congress, and Rep. Jim Bacchus of Florida became the 40th and 41st members of the House to announce they would retire this term.
Whitten, who turns 84 later this month, announced Tuesday he would give up the post he has held since November 1941, shortly before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.The Mississippi Democrat was chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee from 1979 to 1992. But he was forced out of the post following a stroke, which caused him at times to appear disoriented and unable to manage without assistance.
Bacchus, also a Democrat, narrowly won re-election in 1992 from the district encompassing Florida's Space Coast. He said Tuesday he would not seek a third term.
"This is a decision I've made primarily as a husband and as a father," Bacchus, 44, said at a news conference at his office in Cocoa, Fla. "I look forward to the day when I can spend more time with three of my constituents named Joey, Jamey and Rebecca."
Twenty-two other Democratic and 17 Republican members of the House have said the two-year term ending in December would be their last.
Whitten remains the senior member of the Appropriations Committee.
But he would have faced a tough campaign after two years of poor health. He had been urged by friends and associates to retire.