Facing likely defeat on a key provision of their "Contract With America," House Republicans are delaying a vote on a constitutional amendment for term limits on lawmakers.
"In the next few weeks the leadership will be working hard to cultivate the votes necessary to pass term limits," Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, wrote other lawmakers Wednesday in announcing the bill would not come to the floor as scheduled next week. A vote in late March is likely.But even as Armey vowed to fight for the measure, two other members of the House GOP leadership voiced continued opposition, underscoring the difficulty of rounding up the two-thirds majority necessary for passage.
"Most people have not thought through the unintended consequences," said six-term Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, the party's whip. He said a limit on congressional terms would simply transfer power to unelected bureaucrats. DeLay said he had made that case to first-term lawmakers last winter during his leadership race and noted he was elected despite his opposition to the measure.
Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, chairman of the GOP caucus, serving his third term, also said he was standing firm in opposition.
In contrast, the 73 GOP first-termers, many of whom pledge strong loyalty to the "Contract With America," are expected to vote solidly for a term-limits amendment. "It's in the nature of the freshman's message that we be out front" on the issue, said Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash. He defeated then-Speaker Thomas Foley last year in a race that turned in part on Foley's opposition to a statewide, voter-passed term limits law.
Before they can round up votes for an amendment, the party leadership must first decide on the details of a bill.
The GOP "contract" calls for votes on two proposals, one to restrict House members to three two-year terms; the other to limit them to six two-year terms. Senators would face two six-year-term limits under either proposal.
A current lawmaker's past service would not count toward the limits.
The measure that emerged from the House Judiciary Committee allows House members to serve six two-year terms, then requires them to sit out one term before permitting them to serve for six more two-year terms. Reflecting widespread unhappiness with that approach, several first-termers announced a new bill Wednesday. It restricts House members to six terms and permits states to provide for a shorter limit.
Several states have approved term limits on their own congressional delegations, and supporters are looking to the Supreme Court to issue a ruling this year on the constitutionality of that approach.
The GOP's task is further complicated by divisions among outside groups supporting term limits over the precise details that should be enacted.
U.S. Term Limits, which favors the more restrictive six-year limit, announced it would air a TV spot in Washington accusing House Republicans of hypocrisy. While they ran on a promise of limiting congressional terms, GOP leaders now propose to strike down term limits already enacted in 22 states, the ad says. "And they wonder why the people support term limits for career politicians," it concludes.
Armey announced the decision to delay a vote after a closed door meeting with House Speaker Newt Gingrich and other key lawmakers. Republican sources, insisting on anonymity, said vote counts showed roughly 230 lawmakers of both parties in favor of the measure, far shy of the 290 that would assure passage.