B.2. Combined Limit

The maximum total allowable tenure in Congress is twenty full years, counting all terms, full or partial, in both chambers combined.

In some cases, members will move from one chamber to the other. When they do, this imposes an upper limit on their allowed time of service. In general, it allows for all four terms in the House and both terms in the Senate. So why include it? Because it cuts the maximum by four years. Let me explain.

Anything less than half a term doesn’t count toward the maximum number of terms. This language also establishes a hard cap on the number of full years that a member can serve in Congress, combined. It precludes the edge cases where someone might serve just under half a term in the House and just less than another half a term in the Senate, on top of their maximum number of terms. Combined, that would raise the ceiling from twenty to twenty-four total years in Congress. This prevents that kind of gaming.