Republican senators call for ending era of ‘permanent politicians’
Don’t expect the U.S. Congress — packed with old men and women who have been in office for decades — to embrace a proposal to term limit themselves.
Republican senators Jim DeMint, Tom Coburn, Kay Bailey Hutchison and Sam Brownback offered such a measure on Tuesday, saying it would be good to get fresh blood on Capitol Hill.
“Americans know real change in Washington will never happen until we end the era of permanent politicians,” DeMint said.
“Over the last 20 years, Washington politicians have been re-elected about 90 percent of the time because the system is heavily tilted in favor of incumbents.”
Coburn says the best way to ensure a government of the people “is to replace the career politicians in Washington with citizen legislators who care more about the next generation than their next election.”
The four Republican senators proposed a constitutional amendment that would limit members of the House of Representatives to three, two-year terms — and members of the Senate to two, six-year terms. Easier said than done.
Previous efforts, dating back to the birth of the nation, have come up short and this one will likely fail as well.
Democrat opposes sending Guantanamo detainees to Leavenworth
A senior Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday warned against sending detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Fort Leavenworth prison in Kansas, saying it could endanger U.S. relations with Muslim countries.
It was also another thorn in President Barack Obama’s effort to quickly close the controversial U.S. prison in Cuba.
Representative Ike Skelton, chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, acknowledged the difficulties the Obama administration was having finding a place to move the detainees, but in a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates he raised two problems with sending them to Kansas.
In addition to Fort Leavenworth housing a maximum security military prison, the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College is also located at the military installation which is meant to serve as a graduate school of sorts for military officers, including from abroad.
“I have strong indications that, if detainees from Guantanamo were to be transferred to Fort Leavenworth, a number of Muslim countries would decline to continue to send their students,” Skelton said in the letter. “This would have a very negative outcome for our military officers, the school, and the health of our relationships with Muslim nations.”
He also raised the issue of housing foreign individuals near American prisoners, saying that U.S. law bars it.
“Plans to transfer Guantanamo detainees to Fort Leavenworth would require additional expenses for military construction and enhanced security so as not to run afoul of the law,” Skelton said. “I feel strongly that Fort Leavenworth is not an appropriate option.”
they are proposing to clear out a percentage of the prisoners here in CA,because we cannot afford keep them incarcerated. But the inducement of say 200 000 000 dollars per bakers dozen{13)send them here then perhaps Arnold will not have sell off some of our more famous jails.when the criminals get let loose here, i can see people ordinary people asking to be locked up for safety.
Mufaso,
Brilliant, one sentence and you’re right on the money.
Robert Smith,
Our gov’t is very similar to Iran’s. Our country isn’t really democratic, it’s mostly run by corporate elites who are born into their position mostly and by the federal reserve which is elected by no one. In Iran they have elections but their country is mostly run by the shah and his inner circle.
Term limits would be a nice start in trying to find a way to limit the power of gov’t. I think this is just posturing though, these particular politicians know this has zero chance of passing so they make it sound like it’s what they really want.
I put my trust in a man who voluntarily returns a large chunk of his pay to the US treasury every year, and does so everytime without anyone needing to ask him, Dr. Ron Paul.