House Democrats leaders continue to push back on voting for leader term limits.
This isn’t the first time they did this. In Dec. 2018 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that representatives would wait until after the New Year to bring the issue to the table. Before, some members who were against electing Pelosi to the position of speaker were negotiating a plan to introduce term limits for leaders and committee chairs, but according to Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR), they only made up a small number of the opposers.
Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) said Wednesday at a House Democratic Caucus meeting that there wouldn’t be a vote for term limits before the Feb. 15 deadline. Perlmutter himself said he was in favor of term limits last year, according to Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA).
The plan would have been to, “limit party leaders to three terms,” according to Politico. “With a fourth term possible if two-thirds of the Democratic Caucus support it.” This means that Pelosi, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) would be at their third term.
Politco reported that “Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) then told lawmakers an existing internal caucus panel would study the issue and report back to rank-and-file Democrats.”
Term limits used to exist for the House. Republicans issued a rule back in 1995 that restricted committee chairs to three terms of service. Democrats would eventually remove the rule in 2009. From then on discussions and debates were made about returning a limit rule, but it seems like the debates are at a constant loop, unable to move forward.