Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 30, 1995 TAG: 9503300092
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Boston Globe and The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The proposal to limit lawmakers to 12 years' service in the House or Senate got 227 votes, with 204 against - 61 shy of the two-thirds majority necessary for passage.
All of Virginia's Democratic representatives voted against the amendment, as did Republicans Herbert Bateman of Newport News and Thomas Bliley of Richmond. Bob Goodlatte of Roanoke and the rest of Virginia's Republicans voted for it.
None of the four versions for limits of six or twelve years came close to winning the two-thirds majority needed to move a constitutional amendment toward approval. Despite that outcome Wednesday night, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., vowed to bring term limits to a Senate vote anyway, probably in June.
Other term-limit versions and their margins of defeat were:
A Democratic proposal for a retroactive limit of 12 years that would make senior lawmakers leave after three-fourths of states ratified the amendment; 297-35.
A lifetime limit of six years that would not count prior service, sponsored by two-term Rep. Bob Inglis, R-S.C.; 316-114.
A 12-year limit with a state option of imposing shorter periods, proposed by freshman Rep. Van Hilleary, R-Tenn.; 265-164.
The debate was testy and sometimes hostile, as lawmakers accused each other of arrogance and hypocrisy. Supporters of term limits charged that their opponents believed themselves to be indispensable. Opponents accused supporters of refusing to apply limits to themselves retroactively.
``This isn't trivial stuff, like poor people's income or poor kids not getting enough to eat,'' Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank taunted the Republican leadership. ``This is our careers.''
House Speaker Newt Gingrich accused Frank of ``sophistry'' and said ``speed of language is not the same as wisdom.''
Gingrich vowed to bring term limits back as the first bill to be voted on in the next Congress. ``If over time, state after state, county after county, the American people say this is an experiment we want to try, sooner or later, they will get their way,'' Gingrich concluded to a standing ovation by Republicans.
After the defeat, term limit groups said lawmakers would feel the voters' wrath come 1996. ``I blame both the Democrats and the Republicans,'' said Paul Jacob, executive director of US Term Limits. ``But I can't tell you how sick and tired I am of the blame game and the finger pointing that goes on in Washington D.C.''
Republican supporters of term limits, though proud to bring the issue to the floor for the first time, were divided over whether to impose six- or 12-year caps on House members. In addition, numerous Republican chairmen and party leaders opposed any limits.
``I just can't be an accessory to the dumbing down of democracy,'' said House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., who has served in the House since 1975. ``When the dentist peers into your mouth with his drill whirring, don't you hope he's done this work for a few years?''
by CNB