Official Homepages:
The Senate
The House of Representatives

Hot Legislation
Thomas brings you the hot bills expected to receive floor action in Congress each week.

Key Votes of the 104th Congress
Many of the Congressional retirees cite extreme partisanship and nastiness as reasons for leaving. See the results of this political warfare by looking at the major votes of the '95 Congress.

Power to the People
Search through the full text of the Congressional Record of the 104th Congress.

It's All About the Money
Think Congress is controlled by the dead presidents, the green stuff? Well you're not alone. Mother Jones' Coin-Op Congress focuses specifically on exposing the major role that money plays in our legislative process.

They're heading for the exits early -- and no, it's not a Super Bowl. It's the U.S. Congress. Not for 100 years have so many members retired prematurely, or decided not to seek re-election to the office they struggled so hard to reach. Many of the retirees -- particularly several moderate members -- say that rising partisanship and nastiness in Congress has become too much to take. Even members who are hanging on agree that the constant pressures of fund raising and increasingly negative campaigns have made it difficult to concentrate on the nation's business, much less have a family life. And there's no question that government's unpopularity, which is at a level unmatched since before the American Revolution, has both diminished the stature of Congressional office and made it much more difficult for incumbents to win re-election.

Public opinion of Congress and incumbent invincibility have plummeted in the past decade, thanks in part to such shining moments as the House banking scandal and Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearings. Exiting members may have glimpsed their mortality in the 1994 election, which handed Congress over to the Republicans and booted out several senior Congressional heavyweights.

With close to another year before the next election, and more announcements certain to come, 13 of 100 Senators and 36 of 435 Congressmen have already bowed out. The group comes from all points on the political spectrum, and includes some of the institution's most-respected and highest profile members.

How will this exodus affect the U.S. Congress? The most likely (and unfortunate) result is that the two parties will further polarize. Many of the retirees, especially Senators like Bill Bradley, D-NJ and Nancy Landon Kassebaum, R-KS, were models of bipartisanship, compromise, and commitment to public service over their own image. As the middle clears out, extremists on both the left and right will fill the power vacuum, and replace compromise with conflict. Although retiring moderates like Bradley have tended to portray their retirements as acts of high dignity, they have been accused by some of abandoning American government just when they are needed most.

But mass retirements also have important implications for Democrats' and Republicans' struggle for control of Congress. As their apparently failed endgame over the budget has shown, the public has fast become disenchanted with Congressional Republicans, and has found many of the House freshman members elected in 1994 too radical. Democrats are hoping to turn these sentiments to their advantage, and reclaim control of one or both chambers of Congress. There may be some hope for them in the Senate, where Republicans hold only a 53-46 advantage. But it will be a difficult feat in the House, where the GOP margin is much wider, 236-197 (with one Independent), and where about twice as many Democrats are giving up their seats as Republicans. Still Republicans picked up 53 House seats last year, and the electorate still seems restless...

ON THE WAY OUT

HOUSE:
Anthony Beilenson, D-CA
Tom Bevill, D-AL
Bill Brewster, D-OK
Bill Clinger, R-PA
Ronald Coleman, D-TX
Cardiss Collins, D-IL
Jack Fields, D-TX
Kika de la Garza, D-TX
Pete Geren, D-TX
Steve Gunderson, R-WI
Mel Hancock, R-MO
Andrew Jacobs, D-IN
Harry Johnston, D-FL
Blanche Lambert Lincoln, D-AR
Jan Meyers, R-KS
G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery, D-MI
Carlos Moorhead, R-CA
John Myers, R-IN
Pete Peterson, D-FL
Patricia Schroeder, D-CO
Gerry Studds, D-MA
Ray Thornton, D-AR
Barbara Vucanovich, R-NV
Robert Walker, R-PA
Pat Williams, D-MT
Charles Wilson, D-TX

HOUSE (Running for Senate):
Wayne Allard, R-CO (for seat held by retiring Hank Brown, R)
John Bryant, D-TX (for seat held by Phil Gramm, R)
Jim Chapman, D-TX (for seat held by Gramm)
Richard Durbin, D-IL (for seat held by retiring Paul Simon, D)
James Hayes, R-LA (for seat held by retiring J. Bennett Johnston, D)
Tim Johnson, D-SD (for seat held by Larry Pressler, R)
Jack Reed, D-RI (for seat held by retiring Claiborne Pell, R)
Pat Roberts, R-KS (for seat held by retiring Nancy Landon Kassebaum, R)
Robert G. Torricelli, D-NJ (for seat held by retiring Bill Bradley, D)
Dick Zimmer, R-NJ (for seat held by Bradley)

Notes: