Term Limits In Congress

Many Americans today are displeased with and have expressed their discontent with the lawmaking actions—or the lack thereof, rather—of members of Congress. However, solutions to resolve, or at least improve, public approval of their congressional representatives are unclear and plagued by some of the following questions: are term limits the answer, will they do more harm than good, and is it just a trade-off for different, yet equally adverse issues?
Why Term Limits?
Dissatisfaction from Americans It should come as no surprise that Americans are less than satisfied with Congress. A Gallup poll conducted in 2013 reported that 75 percent of Americans—encompassing Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike—are in favor of restricting the
quantity of terms members are allowed to serve in Congress (DeSantis, 2015, para. 2). This reform is favored by proponents for a number of reasons but three of the most common motives include their belief that lawmakers are not held accountable, are corrupt and selfish, and are too preoccupied with focusing on how their political decisions will influence their constituents in regards to reelecting them that they end up not getting anything productive accomplished. Therefore, our representatives in Congress are not acting in the best interest of the people they work for. Proponents contend that if congressmen were relieved of this burden through congressional term limits, they could direct their attention to fulfilling the needs of their constituents. In addition, if the President of the United States is forced to comply with a term limit, members of Congress should be subject to the same standard.
Constitutionality
However, despite the large support of term limits from citizens, Congress has the capability and responsibility to introduce bills, as well as pass legislation and therefore decide the fate of a bill with such propositions.
The Supreme Court stated the only way imposing term limits could be constitutional is by amending the Constitution (Philips, 2016, para. 3); however, this is an exceedingly difficult objective as it would require two-thirds vote from both chambers of Congress, and then must be ratified by at least three-fourths of the states (Phillips, para. 8). Expecting Congress to support an amendment that limits the tenure of their power is quite an unrealistic expectation that would likely have the same amount of their support as say proposing to reduce their salaries or benefits. Members of Congress posses a self-interest in prolonging their tenure in office which, unfortunately, has failed to fulfill the wishes and best interest of the
people.
Effectiveness
Dilemmas On the other hand, opponents argue that term limits will result in members who are inexperienced with the ways of the system, increased influence of lobbyists, limiting voters’ options in elections, and depriving the government of talented individuals (Mulvaney, 2015, para.
4). However, these assertions are not compelling because, in the case of the first reason, removing “experienced” members is a prime motive in pursuing term limits in the aspirations of reducing corruption and increasing productivity. However, Josh Chafetz, a congressional expert at Cornell University, stated term limits are not sensible in a body that handles countless complex issues as Congress does (Phillips, 2016, para. 11). The second argument does hold some merit as new members who are less familiar with the system have a higher likelihood of relying on the expertise of lobbyists (who can stay around Washington as long as they please), yet this is not concrete evidence as just because members are new does not prove they will be influenced. In regards to the third possibility, the fact that candidates know they will not have to run against an incumbent could increase their interest and motivation in running for office. Lastly, incumbents are not the only talented people qualified for their positions and were once new congressmen themselves. In order to reach the point of being a prospective Senator or Representative, one must prove extensively that they are capable of performing the duties and
fulfilling the responsibilities associated with the job. On the contrary, a congressional l expert at Brookings Institution asserted “they have neither the time nor the incentive to develop the relevant expertise they need to be good at their jobs” (Phillips, 2016, para. 12). However, this is an inaccurate assertion because the incentive for lawmakers to pursue a congressional office lies with their desire to serve their constituents. This would simply eliminate those seeking to gain personal benefits or self-serving agenda from the office. Still, if congressmen wanted to maintain some form of political power, they could simply run for other offices like in the other house or governor of their state, so we would never be deprived of “talented” people in government.
Conclusion
Many Americans from both political parties believe Congress is ineffective and feel it is necessary we implement congressional term limits to make Congress productive and have the interest of the people, instead of themselves, the focus of their duties. However, although term limits would help diminish some issues regarding Congress, it would create others and even the likelihood of congressional term limits actually becoming law is rather improbable.