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A new push seen for term limits

WASHINGTON, March 30 (UPI) -- The idea of term limits for the U.S. Congress is making a comeback in the campaign for the 2010 midterm elections, observers said.

Term limits -- an idea advanced when Newt Gingrich moved into the house speaker's chair as the Republicans swept into office in the 1990s but died because it lacked the necessary congressional votes -- dovetails with a desire by Republicans to tap into voter discontent and has gained support within the Tea Party movement, The Baltimore Sun reported Tuesday.

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"Americans are losing their confidence in their elected officials," said Andy Hardy, a Republican Maryland state senator seeking to defeat Democratic U.S. Rep. Frank Kratovil Jr. "I think more and more people are thinking the Constitution should be amended for term limits."

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., a favorite of the Tea Party movement, has revived the formal effort for a constitutional amendment but observers say it is unlikely any action will be taken in the Democratically-controlled Congress, the Sun said.

"This nation can no longer afford these entrenched men and women who enjoy lives of luxury wholly insulated from the consequences of their major policy failure," DeMint said.

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Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., who was elected to Congress in a1994 GOP landslide and is retiring this year, said term limits are "not necessarily a good idea."

"I would agree that term limits will, in fact, empower the staff and empower outside forces," he told CNN.

Because Republicans failed to deliver on the issue when they took over Congress, "I can understand why many professional politicians ... would have a sour taste in their mouths from that experience," said Philip Blumel, president of U.S. Term Limits.

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