Nancy Pelosi spent 39 years in Congress collecting a taxpayer salary while her net worth grew by 23 times.
Now a Texas congressman just introduced a bill that would have cut her off at year 12.
You need to read what this bill actually does – because Washington's career politicians are going to fight it with everything they have.
What Roy's Bill Actually Does
Chip Roy introduced the Statutory Term Limits on Congressional Pay and Power Act this week, and it is exactly as aggressive as it sounds.
Once a member of Congress hits 12 cumulative years of service – House or Senate – the bill strips two things: their taxpayer-funded salary and every position of institutional power.
No more committee chairs.
No more ranking member seats.
No more leadership posts.
You want to keep your seat in Congress after 12 years? Fine. Do it for free, and do it from the back bench.
"For too long, Washington has rewarded longevity with greater power, higher pay, and deeper entrenchment," Roy said.
He's right.
The bill is structured as a congressional rulemaking exercise – which is how Roy threads the constitutional needle.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1995 that forcing members out through statute requires a constitutional amendment.
Roy isn't forcing anyone out.
He's just making the job a lot less cushy for the people who treat it like a lifetime appointment.
The Numbers That Should Make You Furious
Think about who this bill targets.
https://twitter.com/foxnewspolitics/status/2065071727043088597?s=20
Pelosi served 39 years.
McConnell served 41 years – the longest Senate party leadership tenure in American history.
Steny Hoyer has been in Congress since 1981.
The current Congress is the third-oldest in U.S. history, with an average member age of 58.9 years.
The median age in America is 39.
These people are not your neighbors.
They are a permanent governing class – collecting federal salaries, accumulating committee power, and rewriting rules to protect their own seats while the country they supposedly serve gets younger and they get richer.
A Pew Research poll found that 87 percent of Americans – regardless of party – support congressional term limits.
Eighty-seven percent.
Washington has ignored it for decades because the people who would have to vote for term limits are the exact people term limits would remove.
Roy's bill is a direct attack on that incentive structure.
Why the Swamp Will Fight This With Everything It Has
Roy didn't try to amend the Constitution.
He used the one weapon Congress can't easily block – its own rulemaking power and its own appropriations authority – to make career politics financially painful.
The bill kicks in with the 121st Congress in 2029.
That's not an accident.
Starting in 2029 means no current member can claim they're being personally targeted – which strips away the easiest argument for killing it in committee.
https://twitter.com/RepChipRoy/status/2064398220659204130?s=20
The Heritage Foundation has documented this for decades: the seniority system is how the permanent governing class protects itself.
Power flows to whoever has been there the longest, regardless of talent, regardless of results, regardless of what 87 percent of Americans keep telling pollsters they want.
Watch for Chuck Schumer to lead the legal fight against this.
Article I says members "shall receive" compensation – and Schumer's lawyers will argue the moment this gains any momentum that you can't condition that pay on years of service.
They'll file in a favorable district, find a Democratic judge to issue an injunction, and bury this before it ever gets a committee vote.
That's how the swamp works.
It doesn't argue against term limits – 87 percent support makes that impossible.
It buries them in procedure, litigation, and delay until your attention moves elsewhere.
Roy knows the fight he just started.
The question is whether Republicans in the House have the spine to stand behind it.
Sources:
- Alex Nitzberg, "Chip Roy fields proposal to block pay and power for longtime lawmakers," Fox News, June 11, 2026.
- Virginia Grace McKinnon, "Roy Targets Washington's 'Entrenchment' With No-Pay Term Limit Bill," The Daily Signal, June 9, 2026.
- "Rep. Roy Introduces No-Pay, No-Committees Term Limit Bill," Roy.house.gov, June 9, 2026.
- "Term Limits: The Only Way to Clean Up Congress," The Heritage Foundation.
- "H.R.9230 – Statutory Term Limits on Congressional Pay and Power Act," Congress.gov, June 9, 2026.