Posted on 05/20/2015 4:45:57 PM PDT by concernedcitizen76
No wonder Washington never changes – 79 members of Congress have been there since Bill Clinton’s first term in the White House. This list includes names such as Reid, Feinstein, McConnell, McCain, Pelosi, Boehner, Rangel and Boxer.
In this article, I am going to share with you a complete list of the members of Congress that have been “serving” us for at least 20 years. They believe that they are “serving” us well, but without a doubt most Americans very much wish that true “change” would come to Washington. In fact, right now Congress has a 15 percent approval rating with the American people, and that approval rating has been consistently below 20 percent since mid-2011. So of course we took advantage of the 2014 mid-term election to dump as many of those Congress critters out of office as we possibly could, right? Wrong. Sadly, incumbents were re-elected at a 95 percent rate in 2014. This just shows how broken and how corrupt our system has become. The American people absolutely hate the job that Congress is doing, and yet the same clowns just keep getting sent back to Washington again and again.
Our founders never intended for service in Congress to become a career, but that is precisely what it has become for many of our “public servants”. As of this moment, there are 79 members of Congress that have been in office for at least 20 years, and there are 16 members of Congress that have been in office for at least 30 years.
No wonder so many Americans are advocating term limits these days. When there are dozens of members of Congress that know that they are going to be sent back to Washington over and over again no matter how the American people feel about things, that can cause them to become extremely callous toward the will of the people. Instead, often these politicians become increasingly responsive to the needs of their big donors, because it takes big money to win campaign after campaign. I am sure that if George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were running around today, they would be absolutely disgusted by how our system has evolved.
The following is a list from rollcall.com of the Republicans in the U.S. Senate that have served for at least 20 years and the dates when they first took office:
Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Jan. 4, 1977 Thad Cochran, Miss. Dec. 27, 1978 Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Jan. 5, 1981 Mitch McConnell, Ky. Jan. 3, 1985 Richard C. Shelby, Ala. Jan. 6, 1987 John McCain, Ariz. Jan. 6, 1987 James M. Inhofe, Okla. Nov. 30, 1994
The following is a list from rollcall.com of the Democrats in the U.S. Senate that have served for at least 20 years and the dates when they first took office:
Patrick J. Leahy, Vt. Jan. 14, 1975 Barbara A. Mikulski, Md. Jan. 6, 1987 Harry Reid, Nev. Jan. 6, 1987 Dianne Feinstein, Calif. Nov. 4, 1992 Barbara Boxer, Calif. Jan. 5, 1993 Patty Murray, Wash. Jan. 5, 1993
The following is a list from rollcall.com of the Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives that have served for at least 20 years and the dates when they first took office:
Don Young, Alaska March 6, 1973 Jim Sensenbrenner, Wis. Jan. 15, 1979 Harold Rogers, Ky. Jan. 5, 1981 Christopher H. Smith, N.J. Jan. 5, 1981 Joe L. Barton, Texas Jan. 3, 1985 Lamar Smith, Texas Jan. 6, 1987 Fred Upton, Mich. Jan. 6, 1987 John J. Duncan Jr., Tenn. Nov. 8, 1988 Dana Rohrabacher, Calif. Jan. 3, 1989 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Fla. Aug. 29, 1989 John A. Boehner, Ohio Jan. 3, 1991 Sam Johnson, Texas May 18, 1991 Ken Calvert, Calif. Jan. 5, 1993 Robert W. Goodlatte, Va. Jan. 5, 1993 Peter T. King, N.Y. Jan. 5, 1993 John L. Mica, Fla. Jan. 5, 1993 Ed Royce, Calif. Jan. 5, 1993 Frank D. Lucas, Okla. May 10, 1994 Rodney Frelinghuysen, N.J. Jan. 4, 1995 Walter B. Jones, N.C. Jan. 4, 1995 Frank A. LoBiondo, N.J. Jan. 4, 1995 Mac Thornberry, Texas Jan. 4, 1995 Edward Whitfield, Ky. Jan. 4, 1995
The following is a list from rollcall.com of the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives that have served for at least 20 years and the dates when they first took office:
John Conyers Jr., Mich. Jan. 4, 1965 Charles B. Rangel, N.Y. Jan. 21, 1971 Steny H. Hoyer, Md. May 19, 1981 Marcy Kaptur, Ohio Jan. 3, 1983 Sander M. Levin, Mich. Jan. 3, 1983 Peter J. Visclosky, Ind. Jan. 3, 1985 Peter A. DeFazio, Ore. Jan. 6, 1987 John Lewis, Ga. Jan. 6, 1987 Louise M. Slaughter, N.Y. Jan. 6, 1987 Nancy Pelosi, Calif. June 2, 1987 Frank Pallone Jr., N.J. Nov. 8, 1988 Eliot L. Engel, N.Y. Jan. 3, 1989 Nita M. Lowey, N.Y. Jan. 3, 1989 Jim McDermott, Wash. Jan. 3, 1989 Richard E. Neal, Mass. Jan. 3, 1989 José E. Serrano, N.Y. March 20, 1990 David E. Price, N.C. Jan. 7, 1997 Also served 1987-95 Rosa DeLauro, Conn. Jan. 3, 1991 Collin C. Peterson, Minn. Jan. 3, 1991 Maxine Waters, Calif. Jan. 3, 1991 Jerrold Nadler, N.Y. Nov. 3, 1992 Jim Cooper, Tenn. Jan. 7, 2003 Also served 1983-95 Xavier Becerra, Calif. Jan. 5, 1993 Sanford D. Bishop Jr., Ga. Jan. 5, 1993 Corrine Brown, Fla. Jan. 5, 1993 James E. Clyburn, S.C. Jan. 5, 1993 Anna G. Eshoo, Calif. Jan. 5, 1993 Gene Green, Texas Jan. 5, 1993 Luis V. Gutierrez, Ill. Jan. 5, 1993 Alcee L. Hastings, Fla. Jan. 5, 1993 Eddie Bernice Johnson, Texas Jan. 5, 1993 Carolyn B. Maloney, N.Y. Jan. 5, 1993 Lucille Roybal-Allard, Calif. Jan. 5, 1993 Bobby L. Rush, Ill. Jan. 5, 1993 Robert C. Scott, Va. Jan. 5, 1993 Nydia M. Velázquez, N.Y. Jan. 5, 1993 Bennie Thompson, Miss. April 13, 1993 Sam Farr, Calif. June 8, 1993 Lloyd Doggett, Texas Jan. 4, 1995 Mike Doyle, Pa. Jan. 4, 1995 Chaka Fattah, Pa. Jan. 4, 1995 Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas Jan. 4, 1995 Zoe Lofgren, Calif. Jan. 4, 1995
As you looked over those lists, you probably noticed that they contain many of the members of Congress that Americans complain about the most.
Unfortunately, because the vast majority of these individuals come from states or congressional districts that are basically a lock to vote a certain way, there is very little hope of ever removing them. That means that most of these Congress critters are going to get to keep coming back for as long as they want.
No matter which political party you prefer, this should greatly disturb you.
Our founders certainly never intended for a permanent class of elitists to rule over us.
But that is what we have.
We are supposed to have a government of the people, by the people and for the people, but instead we have a government of the elite, by the elite and for the elite. Most people do not realize this, but today most members of Congress are actually millionaires. The disconnect between members of Congress and average Americans has never been greater than it is right now, and I think that is a very troubling sign for the future of this nation.
So is there a solution to this problem?
Term Limits!!!
Yeah, the ensconced turd bowls in Congress will get right on that.
It gets even worse if you look at the Dingell Dynasty.
His father was in the seat from 33 to 55, Dingell held the seat from 55 to 2015 and now his wife Debbie Dingell is in the seat.
Between John Dingell and John Conyers (Who has been in office since 65) they’ve got a combined 106 years with Conyers still there. Neither one of them has ever held a private sector job.
Yet we are on the cusp of a police state. How can that be?
It doesn't make sense until one realizes our governing institutions no longer serve their designed purposes. Does congress actually legislate or does it enable the executive to make arbitrary regs/law? Does it conduct oversight of the agencies it created? Does congress serve to secure our inalienable rights? Does congress or Obama determine spending? The senate has voted to give Obama the treaty power.
Institutions designed for free government have been corrupted into forms that do the opposite; they serve to enable and condone tyranny.
Article V to reform our institutions before we can't.
Exactly. Two terms for the house, one for the senate, this will rid all those complaints of “money in politics” as they cannot raise any more to get another senate seat. Also, revoke the amendment that allowed popular vote of senators, the 17th, that would also solve a lot of problems. What are the chances this will happen? Null and Void to site a member of FR. Rise up and be heard. Our future is at stake, and the future “of our children” —a constant hollow rant of the RATS.
Primary the newest batch who lied and are doing the opposite of what they promised.
“Primary the newest batch who lied and are doing the opposite of what they promised.” Primary everyone of them who lied, and that will be almost all of them, not jut the neophytes.
Correct me if I’m wrong but weren’t term limits passed back in the 70’s but the supreme court ruled them unconstitutional?
Good Points!
Term limits are the only thing that will save us from lazy, low information voters.
The author is just counting how long they’ve held their current offices. Many have prior service in other offices, so far longer than 20 years for the above.
Many have prior service in other offices?
Service?
These people do nothing but rob, tax, loot and cause grief.
We tried here in Mississippi last year. The establishment won’t accept defeat
Experience, Sergeant Friday, experience. It takes all those years of service prior to Congress to learn the ropes of how to rob, tax, loot and cause grief.
We won. They cheated.
Great question. SCOTUS did rule in 1995 (5-4) that individual states could not impose term limits on their federal representatives. In the 1990s, the Republican platform included a plank for a term limits constitutional amendment. Majority in favor, but measure failed the 2/3rds threshold. Voted on again later but to no avail.
In the 19th century, turnover in Congress averaged 40 to 50 percent. In modern times, post 17th amendment, turnover fell to 5 to 10 percent.
Mark Levin’s Article V convention desperately needed. If not convened, it’s probably curtain time.
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