3rd GOP Leader Backs Limiting Terms, in Switch : Legislation: Boehner says he is giving in to public opinion. Only one of the top four House Republican chiefs remains opposed to the measure.

In an abrupt turn-around Tuesday, a third House Republican leader threw his support behind congressional term limits, vowing to lobby for passage of such a constitutional amendment by the House next week.

The conversion of Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), chairman of the Republican Conference, leaves just one of the top four GOP House leaders opposed to the measure. Yet despite Boehner’s support, the proposal is still believed to be well short of the required two-thirds majority needed for passage.

Boehner said that his decision, in part, was a bow to public opinion. He said that the last straw for him came when the Senate nearly three weeks ago killed the balanced-budget amendment, an act that he said thwarted the will of the electorate. A constitutional amendment must have broad national support, he noted, winning approval not only of two-thirds of each house of Congress but also of 38 state legislatures.

Boehner said Tuesday that he no longer could justify standing in the way of such a grass-roots referendum on term limits--despite his own reservations.

He was among those who argued last fall--before the elections--for the inclusion of term limits as a plank in the “contract with America,” the House GOP campaign manifesto. He said that he did so, despite his personal opposition to the idea, because of the popular support for term limits around the country.

In all, 22 states have adopted term limits, all resulting from citizen-initiated ballot referendums, including Ohio, where about 70% in Boehner’s district voted for such limits in 1992.

“Even though I myself may not think that this is the greatest idea to come down the pike,” he said, “I don’t think, because the people in my district voted for it, that I have the right to stand in their way and just say: ‘No, you can’t consider it.’ ”

Boehner was not alone among the House GOP leadership to oppose term limits. Still lined up against the notion are Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas, the third-ranking House GOP leader, and Susan Molinari of New York, vice chairwoman of the GOP conference.

Earlier this month, in the face of an all but certain defeat, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Tex.) postponed for two weeks a vote on term limits while they seek to win converts and to drum up popular support.

Boehner’s switch was the first visible payoff and House GOP sources said Tuesday that there would be more. A vote is scheduled early next week.

In the Senate, where the term limits measure also faces an uncertain future, Sen. Hank Brown (R-Colo.), its leading proponent, was elated by Boehner’s switch, calling it “a very significant development.”

Boehner said he would support a 12-year limit but prefers an amendment that would not allow states to impose more restrictive limits, arguing that there should be national uniformity on the issue of service in Congress.

Also Tuesday, the Senate seemed headed for another rancorous, partisan squabble later this week over a proposal to empower the President with a line item veto, with Democrats accusing Republicans of trying to stifle debate and Republicans accusing Democrats of ignoring public opinion.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) filed a cloture motion late Monday to limit floor debate--barely an hour after unveiling his compromise bill that finally united Republican senators, who had been divided for weeks over competing line item veto proposals.

The cloture vote is scheduled for today.

The line item veto is seen as a deficit-reduction tool, allowing presidents to delete individual expenditures, particularly pet projects. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) denounced Dole’s attempt to curtail debate and said Democrats simply are demanding sufficient time to thoroughly examine and debate the new GOP proposal.