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This trend raises concerns about the representation of younger generations and the ability of Congress to address evolving societal needs. Equivalently, the governors of Indiana[71] and Oregon[72] are limited to serving 8 out of any 12 years. Conversely, the governors of Montana[73] and Wyoming[74] are limited to two terms, serving 8 out of any 16 years. A member of Congress that has served for more than 40 years may have immense institutional knowledge but may require more thorough education on your issues depending on their policy areas of expertise. However, with a longer tenure comes a more clear record of how they may react to your issues.
Longest-Serving Former Senators

The most significant role in the House of Representatives is that of speaker of the House. The Constitution empowers the House of Representatives to impeach federal officials for "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" and empowers the Senate to try such impeachments. The House may approve "articles of impeachment" by a simple majority vote; however, a two-thirds vote is required for conviction in the Senate. A convicted official is automatically removed from office and may be disqualified from holding future office under the United States. No further punishment is permitted during the impeachment proceedings; however, the party may face criminal penalties in a normal court of law. In the instance when the presidency and both Houses of Congress are controlled by one party, the speaker normally takes a low profile and defers to the president.
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The Constitution also provides for a limit on the amount of debt that the United States government can take on. This limit is referred to as the debt ceiling and it is currently set at $22 trillion. This limit is important in that it prevents the government from taking on too much debt, which could lead to a default on the payments owed to creditors.
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Checks and Balances in Congress
Under the Presidential Succession Act (1947), the speaker is second in the line of presidential succession after the vice president. The states of Washington and California use a similar (though not identical) system to that used by Louisiana. The House meets in the south wing of the United States Capitol.
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However, these powers were curtailed in the "Revolution of 1910" because of the efforts of Democrats and dissatisfied Republicans who opposed Cannon's heavy-handed tactics. Since 1997, however, six state legislatures have either overturned their own limits or state supreme courts have ruled such limits unconstitutional. In 2002 the Idaho Legislature became the first legislature of its kind to repeal its own term limits, enacted by a public vote in 1994, ostensibly because it applied to local officials along with the legislature.
This article explains the length of terms for Congress members and the consequences of not raising the debt limit.
Another officer is the chief administrative officer, responsible for the day-to-day administrative support to the House of Representatives. Stephens said short term limits prompts lawmakers to always be eyeing their next political office, with many forced to compete against each other for limited seats in the Missouri Senate. In the Senate however, the majority has the power to schedule when various bills come to the floor for voting but a single Senator can slow legislation from coming to the floor for a vote. Since debate in the Senate is not concluded until 60 senators vote for a cloture motion to approve a bill for consideration, the majority must also coordinate with the minority part to set the rules for debate on legislation.
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Before members are assigned to committees, each committee’s size and the proportion of Republicans to Democrats must be decided by the party leaders. The total number of committee slots allotted to each party is approximately the same as the ratio between majority party and minority party members in the full chamber. The party with a majority of seats in the House is known as the majority party. The speaker, committee chairs, and some other officials are generally from the majority party; they have counterparts (for instance, the "ranking members" of committees) in the minority party. While it's a far-flung possibility, which party has a majority in Pennsylvania's congressional delegation also could have major implications on the presidential race. If the 2024 White House election is contested or tied, each state’s congressional delegation will have a single vote in deciding the winner.
Leadership
Less than 5 percent of members of Congress are between the ages of 25 and 40, despite the fact that 33 percent of the over-25 population in the U.S. are under 40 years of age. There are 13 active members of Congress that have the longest tenure of service, some of whom have served only in one chamber and some of whom have served both the Senate and House of Representatives. These are members of Congress actively serving that have the longest combined record of service on anyone currently serving in Congress. All 435 House seats are up for election every midterm and presidential election year.
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Term limits in the United States
The U.S. Constitution sets minimum, but not maximum, age thresholds for presidents and members of the U.S. The minimum age is 35 for presidents, 30 for senators and 25 for representatives. The Constitution does not set a minimum or maximum age for Supreme Court justices. As the political landscape evolves and societal needs change, the question of how long a congress term should be will continue to be a topic of interest and debate.
As a check to the power of the Speaker and Majority Leader, the Minority Leader, selected from the membership of the political party with fewer seats in the House, serves as an advocate for their party’s concerns and procedural rights. The U.S. House of Representatives is the lower house of Congress and plays a vital role, along with the Senate, in the process of moving proposed legislation to law. The bicameral relationship between the two bodies is vital to the American system of checks and balances that the Founding Fathers of the United States envisioned when writing the U.S. The House of Representatives is part of the Legislative branch of government. So they will not all be up for election at the same time, their terms are staggered. Every two years, during each midterm and presidential election year, a different third of the Senate is elected.
Power is nowhere concentrated; it is rather deliberately and of set policy scattered amongst many small chiefs. It is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven seigniories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court-baron and its chairman lord-proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within the reach of the full powers of rule, may at will exercise almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself. It will be the last such dinner before the 2024 election, giving the president and members of the press a brief respite from the campaign trail as they participate in a Washington ritual designed to celebrate a free press.
The majority party members and the minority party members meet in separate caucuses to select their leader. Third parties rarely have had enough members to elect their own leadership, and independents will generally join one of the larger party organizations to receive committee assignments. [T]he constitutional prerogative of the House has been held to apply to all the general appropriations bills, and the Senate's right to amend these has been allowed the widest possible scope. This latter committee, created in the 110th Congress and reauthorized for the 111th, has no jurisdiction over legislation and must be chartered anew at the start of every Congress.
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