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Essay On Congressional Term Limits

700 Words3 Pages

Congressional term limits have been what restricted the amount of time that anyone can work in office whether it be to a representative, senator, or even the president. People have debated over keeping or losing the term limits, since each come with their own benefits and faults at the same time. In the argument for term limits, some may argue that they are necessary because, “Congress will be more responsible toward their constituents because they will soon be constituents themselves” (Weeks). The validity in this statement proves to be one of the strongest arguments because the creation of laws is mean to serve all people, and if the people in office had complete immunity, it would serve unfair and unjust to the rest of society. For this reason, it always will make those in office consider how impactful and …show more content…

This is the case in that one main reason against the term limits is, “When one’s terms are up in one office, that politician can run for another office…” (Weeks). The results of this would lead for more experienced government officials to voice their opinions through what they have learned from the past. Not to mention, with their help some knowledge and insight could be passed on to fellow officials causing for an overall stronger government to be put to work. A similar idea to this is members to be able to stay as long as possible in government until they are not doing their job. This statement can be backed up by the fact that, “…historically the incumbent is re-elected 90% of the time” (Weeks). To make this complete, it leaves almost no chance for new members to enter congress due to how well known the previous congress member is. Not to mention that, if and when a congress member starts to fail his or her duties, it makes it easier for newly elected officials to take their spot as soon as possible. Resulting in a faster fix for the error that was in

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The article is written by Richard Fenno in 1978, summarizing the dilemma of congressmen in the contemporary time. The author was specifically discussing about members of the House, who always seek for reelection during his legislative career, as stated in the initial part of the paper. Fenno went on to propose the conflict in incumbent congressmen 's career: more attention for the Washington career leads to less attention for the congressmen 's home state. The Washington career required commitment to build up support within the House. However, focusing on Washington rendered the congressman homeless, or losing his home 's supportive forces.

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In 1990, term limits were about eight years in the Senate and six years in the Assembly. However, in 2010, it went up to twelve years no matter where they are. There was a higher term expectancy, lower switching, and more institutional memory. Term limits allowed for more diversity by representatives and more new ideas to try out coalitions. The problem with short term limits is that there was a loss of “institutional memory” where there is a well-crafted policy and “splashy” policy, to look good in the process.

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However, reelection being the motivator of members of Congress isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The motivation to be reelected incentivizes members of Congress to enact legislation and constantly work to improve the lives of citizens. Regardless of motive, as long as legislation is being passed through the House and members of Congress like Representative Long are improving the conditions of their district, the purpose of government is being

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U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U.S. 779 (1995). Facts: The people of Arkansas voted to add term limits to the Houses of Congress. Preventing candidates’ names from appearing on the ballot if they had served: 2 terms in the Senate and 3 terms for Representatives. The Arkansas Supreme Court held that the law was unconstitutional. It was appealed to the United States Supreme Court and affirmed the decision.

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In the aftermath of the first real wave of retiring legislators, supporters and opponents have debated on the benefits and detriments of term limits and neither side could come to a conclusion. In Maine where term limit restrictions resulted in a legislature comprised of 40% first term members resulted in the state’s budget being passed in march, the earliest in the state’s history. Supporters saw this as an example that members were working harder and were being more effective, while detractors saw the early budget as inexperienced legislators were passing proposals with inadequate understanding and scrutiny. Supporters emphasize the annual turnover increase in both chambers since the adoption of Proposition 140, as well as the significant increase in the number of members retiring voluntarily before they were 'termed-out '. Supporters are also quick to point out the increase in minority and women legislators increased as had been predicted.

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If someone is in office for so long, finding someone that is as skilled as that person to take over could be a challenge. It could be hard for someone to quickly become successful in that term limit due to a limited amount of time. New members coming in could also mean that they won’t be quite as educated on all the legislation that has happened. This can cut how much time that person actually gets to spend in Congress because they have to learn more material. This would leave very few congress people that could actually legislate.

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The popularity of the members of Congress and Congress overall has been declining as the years pass and time changes. The dissatisfaction and disapproval of the public is so high because according to David Mayhew who wrote Congress the Electoral Connection members of Congress are single-minded people who are only focused on reelection, involve in “smart” behavior such as position taking, credit-claiming and advertisement. Also, according to Mayhew parties are weak, however, that is all not true people tend to vote more so for their party than the person in general. Arnold the writer of Logic of Congressional Outcome, states that Congress has many things to take into account such as citizen preference, robe-challenger, has to take into account

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There are many differing views on the powers congress holds, and congress itself, one such point of view is on whether or not congressmen should have a limited number of terms they are capable of serving, similar to how the president is only capable of serving two terms, and whether or not it would benefit both the people and the government. Congress itself is the legislative branch of the federal government, and as such holds a large amount of authority and power, including putting laws into effect, declaring war, taxing, impeachment, and many other important duties that can be carries out only by congress. Furthermore, members of congress do not have limits on the amount of terms they are allowed to serve, only limits on the length of each term, for those in the house of representatives each term is two years, while in the senate, each term is six years long. I find this to be a matter of public concern because many

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For example, this article by Robert Longley states that “people who choose to serve in Congress should do so for noble reasons and a true desire to serve the people, not just to have a perpetual well-paying job” (“Why Members of the US Congress Do Not Face Term Limits”). This basically means that the members of Congress should not only go to work everyday thinking about completing the task at hand for their job that day, but also they should be thinking that the reason they are doing this job is to benefit the people of the United States. I think that term limits should be applied to the members of Congress because there could be other people that want to serve in Congress for the betterment of the American

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The twenty second amendment created term limits for the president and the twenty eighth amendment should create term limits for congress. In today 's society, especially the younger generation, everyone is so worried about social issues that rarely do they take the time to see who is enabling the nation, let alone vote for congressmen. While it may not be correct to not pay attention to government officials it 's unfortunately what is happening. Politicians are corrupt and the more time they spend in office the more they begin to care more about legacy than making this nation great.

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Congressional term limits will allow congress to continue upholding the goals stated in the preamble of the constitution and will greatly benefit the posterity of our nation. One of the most important changes that term limits will cause is a decrease and eventually an end to career politicians who serve in congress for decades losing connection with the general public. According to the heritage foundation “Term limits, by eliminating incentives for careerism, would curb reelection-oriented federal spending which is targeted to particular districts but contributes little to the general welfare of the country” (Greenberg 1994), in summary, term limits would restrict the ability for

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