凯文·弗雷金，华盛顿报道——如果民主党明年在众议院取得多数席位，他们希望提出新的议程，但很可能仍由过去十年甚至更长时间以来主导该党立法工作的同一批人来实现这一目标。
KEVIN FREKING WASHINGTON — Democrats hope to bring a new agenda to the House next year if they take the majority, but they will most likely do so with many of the same faces that have steered their party’s legislative work for a decade or more.
下一届国会中潜在的委员会主席包括密西西比州的众议员贝尼·汤普森，他自2005年以来一直担任众议院国土安全委员会的民主党首席成员。此外，还有华盛顿州的亚当·史密斯，他于2011年开始担任军事委员会的民主党首席成员，以及加州的众议员马克辛·沃特斯，她于2013年成为金融服务委员会的民主党负责人。
Potential committee chairs in the next Congress include Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who has served as top Democrat on the House Homeland Security panel since 2005. Then, there’s Adam Smith of Washington, who began serving as top Democrat on Armed Services in 2011, and Rep. Maxine Waters of California, who became the lead Democrat on Financial Services in 2013.
其他长期担任委员会领导职务的议员还包括能源与商业委员会的弗兰克·帕洛内以及教育与劳动力委员会的鲍比·斯科特，他们于2015年接任领导职位。众议员里奇·尼尔则于2017年成为财政委员会的民主党首席成员。
Other longtime committee leaders include Reps. Frank Pallone at Energy and Commerce and Bobby Scott at Education and Workforce, who assumed their leadership posts in 2015. Rep. Richie Neal became the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee in 2017.
根据众议院共和党人采用的规则，这些议员都无法继续留任这些职位，因为该规则通常限制议员担任委员会主席或排名成员不超过三个任期。
None would be able to continue in that position under the rules used by House Republicans, which generally limit lawmakers to three terms as chairman or ranking member.
对民主党而言，问题在于是沿用强调资历的现有制度，还是向共和党人建立的制度靠拢。一些民主党人表示，他们正在幕后讨论这一问题。
For Democrats, the question is whether to stick with their current system, which emphasizes seniority, or move closer to the one that Republicans have established. It’s a discussion that some Democrats say they are having behind the scenes.
弗吉尼亚州民主党众议员尤金·温德曼表示：“我认为任期限制这一理念对美国民众和民主党基层支持者来说可能很有吸引力。这听起来很符合民主党的风格。我对此持开放态度。我已经和不少同样持开放态度的人沟通过。”
“I think that the idea of term limits could be appealing to the American people, to the Democratic base. It sounds Democratic,” said Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va. “I’m open to the idea. I’ve spoken to a number of folks who are open to the idea.”
宾夕法尼亚州民主党众议员克里斯西·霍拉汉则表示：“我个人认为，这能让国会更具活力，但我知道自己在少数派中的少数派。”
“I personally think it makes for a more vibrant Congress, but I know I’m in the minority in the minority,” said Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa.
目前，党内领导层尚未对此事多加强调。民主党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯表示，资历在委员会领导职位的分配中一直是一个因素，但并非唯一因素。
Party leaders are playing down the issue for now. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said seniority has always been a factor when it comes to committee leadership, but not the only one.
“随着我们继续前进，党团会议将发挥其应有的作用，”杰弗里斯对记者说。“归根结底，我们不能本末倒置。我们仍然必须在11月赢得这场选举。”任期限制对于民主党来说并非一个新议题。2018年，当他们在考虑是否让南希·佩洛西重返议长职位时，反对她参选的人希望她承诺限制议员担任众议院党团领袖或委员会主席的任期。最终，她同意最多再担任该职位四年。
“The caucus is going to work its will as we move forward,” Jeffries told reporters. “At the end of the day, we can’t put the cart before the horse. We’ve got to still go out and win this thing in November.”Term limits are not a new discussion for Democrats. When they were weighing whether to return Nancy Pelosi as speaker in 2018, those opposing her bid wanted her to commit to limiting how long lawmakers could serve as House party leaders or committee chairs. She eventually agreed to serve in the post for no more than four more years.
委员会主席则没有受到此类限制。2022年，民主党以压倒性多数投票反对对委员会领导人实施六年任期限制。
No such restrictions were added for committee chairs. In 2022, Democrats voted overwhelmingly against a six-year term limit for committee leaders.
自2018年以来一直担任众议院规则委员会民主党最高职位的马萨诸塞州民主党众议员吉姆·麦戈文称，任期限制是一种“人为的、随机的机制，并不总是符合机构的最佳利益”。
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., who has served as top Democrat on the House Rules Committee since 2018, called term limits an “artificial, random mechanism that doesn’t always serve the best interest of the institution.”
“我希望担任主席的人能够努力推动事务完成，并带来真正的改变，”麦戈文说。“这些人中，有些人可能已经任职很长时间，而另一些人可能相对较新。”
“I want people in chairs who are going to fight to get things over the finish line and make a real difference,” McGovern said. “Some of those people may have been around for a long time and some of them may be relatively new.”
帕洛内表示，他打算成为下一任能源与商业委员会的主席或排名成员。他称对主席实施任期限制“非常不民主”。“如果人们想投票给某人，就应该允许他们这样做，”帕洛内说。
Pallone said he intends to be the next Energy and Commerce chairman or ranking member. He called term limits for chairs “very undemocratic.”“If people want to vote for somebody they should be allowed to,” Pallone said.
他还表示，任期限制可能导致主席们只考虑短期利益，因为他们会着眼于在私营领域的下一个机会。
He also said that term limits can lead to short-term thinking from chairs looking at their next opportunity in the private sector.
“人们任职几年后，就会去某家游说公司工作，”他说。“他们在任期间所做的一切，很大程度上受到他们即将加入的游说公司的影响。”汤普森也表示，如果他能成功连任，希望再次担任国土安全委员会的民主党最高职位。他批评了共和党人将委员会领导人任期限制为三届的做法。“我不想像共和党人那样。我是民主党人，”汤普森说。
“People serve for a couple years, then they go work for some lobbying firm,” he said. “What they do when they’re here is very much influenced by what lobbying firm they’re going to work for.”Thompson also said he would like to serve again as top Democrat on Homeland Security if he wins reelection. He dismissed the way Republicans limit committee leaders to three terms. “I don’t want to be like Republicans. I’m a Democrat,” Thompson said.
众议院多数党领袖、路易斯安那州共和党人史蒂夫·斯卡利斯表示，任期限制对共和党人来说效果不错。
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., says term limits have served Republicans well.
“向年轻议员展示，只要你努力工作、把工作做得出色，你永远都有通往领导层的路径，这确实很好，”斯卡利斯说。“我们确实会失去一些优秀的主席，但我们也得到了新的领导人，否则他们本没有机会崛起。”民主党人并不总是坚持资历。最近的一个例外是司法委员会首席民主党人、众议员杰米·拉斯金。他在2024年底挑战众议员杰里·纳德勒这一职位，促使当时77岁的纳德勒让位。
“It’s been really good to show younger members that you’re always going to have a path to leadership if you keep working hard, if you do your job really well,” Scalise said. “We definitely lose some good chairmen along the way, but we also get new leaders who otherwise would not have been able to rise up.”Democrats don’t always stick with seniority. One recent exception is Rep. Jamie Raskin, the lead Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. He challenged Rep. Jerry Nadler for the job in late 2024, prompting Nadler, then 77, to step aside.
同样，民主党人选择了众议员安吉·克雷格担任农业委员会首席民主党人，此前她挑战了已故众议员戴维·斯科特。斯科特在前两届国会中担任该委员会首席民主党人，但健康状况不佳。
Similarly, Democrats selected Rep. Angie Craig to become the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee after she challenged the late Rep. David Scott for the post. Scott had been the panel’s top Democrat for the previous two sessions, but was in poor health.
民主党人去年还选举众议员罗伯特·加西亚接替众议员格里·康诺利在众议院监督与政府改革委员会的职位。康诺利在与食管癌抗争后去世。加西亚击败了马萨诸塞州资深众议员斯蒂芬·林奇，获得该职位。
Democrats also elected Rep. Robert Garcia last year to succeed Rep. Gerry Connolly on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Connolly died after a battle with esophageal cancer. Garcia defeated veteran Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts for the job.
“从各方面来看，他都做得非常出色，”得克萨斯州民主党众议员格雷格·卡萨尔说。“如果不是他在该委员会的领导，我们不会得到迄今为止所有的爱泼斯坦文件。”卡萨尔称，民主党人在委员会主席问题上的下一步是“内部讨论”。“我认为至少要转向一个以‘谁是最合适人选’为核心的体系，然后讨论如何确保新鲜血液进入，”卡萨尔说。
“He has done, by everybody’s measure here, an incredible job,” said Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas. “We would not have all of the Epstein files that we’ve gotten so far without his leadership on that committee.”Casar called next steps for Democrats on committee chairs an “internal conversation.”“I think at a minimum we should go to a system where it’s about who the right person is, and then have discussions about how we make sure that new blood comes in,” Casar said.
伊利诺伊州民主党众议员布拉德·施奈德表示，与往年相比，他听到的关于任期限制的讨论少了，他认为这要归功于民主党人已经做出的一些改变。
Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., said he hears less talk about term limits than past years, and he credits some of the changes Democrats already made.
“上一轮选举期间，呼声很高，也出现了一些变化，”施耐德说道，“不过这次我并未听到类似的强烈呼声。”来自华盛顿州的众议员普拉米拉·贾亚帕尔表示，她支持设定任期限制，但强调这一观点并不能代表现任领导层的立场。她的想法更多是为了帮助民主党培养出更多后备人才。
“Last cycle, there was a lot of clamor, and you saw some changes,” Schneider said. “I’m not hearing similar angst this time.”Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington said she favors term limits, but emphasized that her view is no reflection of the current leaders. It’s more about helping Democrats develop a deeper bench.
“我认为这是一项非常明智的政策与战略，有助于持续提升党内成员的技能水平、提供更多发展机会并培养其领导能力，”贾亚帕尔说道。
“I just think it’s really smart policy and it’s really smart strategy to make sure that we keep building people skills, opportunities and leadership,” Jayapal said.
她回忆道，十年前刚进入国会时，自己也理解非裔议员团体长期以来的担忧——即任期限制会损害那些刚刚获得委员会主席职位的议员的利益。不过她认为，如今民主党在提升议员群体多样性方面做得更好了。
She said she understood when she first served in Congress a decade ago the longstanding concerns voiced by the Congressional Black Caucus about term limits hurting members who had just earned chairmanships, but believes Democrats have done a better job of diversifying the caucus.
“我们仍需继续努力，但目前我们正在剥夺许多新任议员的发展机会，”贾亚帕尔说道。
“And we need to do more, but we are taking away opportunities from a lot of those newer members,” Jayapal said.
部分民主党人提议采取折中方案，即设定一定的任期限制，但门槛不应像共和党人规定的那样为三届。
Some Democrats have talked about a hybrid approach that sets some limits, but not at the three-term threshold set by House Republicans.
“我不知道理想的任期上限是多少，但‘无限期’肯定不是正确答案，”霍拉汉说道。
“I don’t know what the magic number is, but endless is not the magic number,” Houlahan said.