Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said in an interview that aired Wednesday on “Rising” that term limits for House leadership positions should be considered if term limits for committee chairs are being considered.
“I think if we limit chairs, then we ought to think about limits for the top jobs too,” DeFazio, who is expected to be chairman of the House Infrastructure Committee, told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball on Tuesday when asked whether House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) should face term limits if she becomes Speaker.
The congressman’s comments come as Pelosi nears a deal with her Democratic critics to support term limits for party leaders.
The potential agreement would involve Pelosi showing public support for a caucus rule to impose a three-term limit on the top three members of Democratic leadership.
Pelosi, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), and Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) would all be term-limited after 2020 unless they ran for another leadership position or for a fourth term.
Democrats are not termed out of the chairmanships or ranking member positions under current rules.
“I don’t know what the term would be exactly, how many years, but it took me 32 years to get to be chairman. There’s very few people who are going to hang around for 32 years to do that,” DeFazio said.
“There’s a question there. We’ve lost good people because they didn’t see a way to move up,” he continued.”People who were potential, future leaders have gone on to other things. I don’t want to lose the best people around here because they don’t think they have promotional prospects.”
— Julia Manchester
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