House Republicans Offer Choices On Term Limits

House Republican leaders, unable to find a consensus on limiting how many terms people can serve in Congress, decided Friday to offer lawmakers a choice of four different bills, sources said.

“We’ve agreed on which different provisions will be voted on; we are in a pretty solid position now to move forward,” Tony Blankley, a spokesman for House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., said following a series of behind-closed-doors meetings.

Blankley refused to describe the options members will have on the floor. However, a source familiar with Friday’s meetings said they will include:

A Republican bill limiting House tenure to 12 years, with no reference to state term-limit laws.

A Democratic alternative likely to cap tenure at 12 years and make the limits retroactive for current lawmakers.

A GOP plan capping tenure at six years, and pre-empting state laws.

A GOP plan setting a 12-year limit, with a state option for shorter tenure caps and protection for existing state laws.

Whichever alternative prevails under a complicated series of votes will become the subject of a final up-or-down vote putting members on record on the highly controversial issue.

Any of the alternatives would be in the form of a constitutional amendment needing 290 votes - two-thirds of the 435-member House - to progress to the Senate and on to state legislatures for ratification.

House GOP leaders are expected to formally unveil their plan at a news conference Tuesday. They canceled a committee meeting and a press conference Friday in order to hold private meetings with interest groups and various term-limit supporters.