House Republicans are considering term limits for committee chairmen and ranking members, a move that could curb many influential Democrats’ power under a potential Republican House majority.
House Republicans already have term limits within the GOP Conference, but adopting the potential rule could significantly curb many potential Democrat ranking members.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), the House Financial Services Committee chair since 2013, could no longer serve as the top-ranking Democrat on the committee.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) would no longer be the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee; he has served as the top Democrat on the committee since 2005.
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee since 2015, would have to step down.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) would no longer serve as the leading Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. He has served as the top Democrat since 2011.
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY). the leading Democrat on the Small Business Committee since 1998, would have to step down.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) serves as the leading Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. He has served three terms and would have to step down under the House Republican proposal.
Rep. Richie Neal (D-MA), the chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, also served three terms as the chair and would have to step down if Republicans took back the House.
“This potential move by Republicans would have a seismic impact on the House and would be a huge breach of tradition. For decades, the two parties have set their own internal rules to decide who sits on committees and for how long,” Punchbowl News emphasized. “Republicans have had term limits in place since 1994, Democrats currently don’t have any such regulations.”
Democrats started the recent move to kick out Republicans such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) over various issues. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told Breitbart News’s Matthew Boyle in an exclusive interview that he would kick Democrats such as Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Adam Schiff (D-CA) off their committees if they take back the majority:
“The Democrats have created a new thing where they’re picking and choosing who could be on the committee,” McCarthy explained to Breitbart News. “Never in the history have you had the majority tell the minority who could be on committee.”
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.