Senate Rejects Proposal to Endorse Term Limits

Senate supporters of term limits failed Tuesday in an effort to put the chamber on record as favoring a constitutional amendment limiting how long lawmakers can serve.

In a test vote forced by Sen. John Ashcroft (R-Mo.), the Senate decided, 49 to 45, to reject a non-binding “sense of the Senate” measure that said the body should pass a constitutional amendment limiting members’ terms.

Ashcroft, among several GOP freshmen who focused their campaigns on the term-limit issue, said he was undeterred by the losing vote.

“This puts the Senate on record,” he said. The vote “set out a marker or identifier on those who are for the amendment and those who are not.”

The campaign for term limits had already been set back in the House, which voted, 227 to 204, in March to limit lawmakers to 12 years’ consecutive service in each chamber.

That fell more than 60 votes shy of the two-thirds needed to approve a constitutional amendment.

Senate supporters acknowledge that they too are at least 20 votes short of the needed two-thirds, and last week other GOP freshmen won approval from Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) to put off a vote on the issue until next spring.

Proponents of a delay also argue that next year lawmakers will be under more pressure to vote for term limits because of the approaching election.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) did not vote on the resolution. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) voted in favor of the resolution.

The Supreme Court in May struck down 24 state laws limiting congressional terms on grounds that only a constitutional amendment could limit how long members of the U.S. Congress could serve.

There is strong public support for congressional term limits, according to public opinion polls, and it could be a major issue in the 1996 congressional elections if Congress fails to pass a constitutional amendment.

Term limits was one of the 10 items on the GOP “contract with America,” but many Republicans have been less enthusiastic about it since they took control of Congress last November.