Rep. Ed Perlmutter and a block of other Democrats withheld their support for now-Speaker Nancy Pelosi until she agreed to putting a time limit on her return to the speaker’s chair. | AP Photo/David Zalubowski Congress House Democrats postpone vote on leadership term limits

House Democratic leaders have postponed a planned vote on leadership term limits, with no date set yet for any action on the controversial issue, according to Democratic lawmakers and aides.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) announced in a House Democratic Caucus meeting on Wednesday that there will be no vote on term limits by Feb. 15, which had been the informal deadline, said multiple sources.


Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) then told lawmakers an existing internal caucus panel would study the issue and report back to rank-and-file Democrats. Some Democrats privately believe the issue will never come up for a vote.

“Recognizing we were in a partial government shutdown for 35 days and now with regular order starting back up, our caucus will begin the conversation about leadership term limits based on an agreement reached with Speaker Pelosi at the end of last year," Perlmutter said in a statement.

Perlmutter and a block of other Democrats withheld their support for now-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) until she agreed to putting a time limit on her return to the speaker’s chair. Pelosi eventually announced she would only serve four years at most in the post. Pelosi will need the support of at least two-thirds of the Democratic Caucus in an internal vote to continue past this term.

Sign up here for POLITICO Huddle A daily play-by-play of congressional news in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The Perlmutter faction had been advocating a plan that would limit party leaders to three terms, with a fourth term possible if two-thirds of the Democratic Caucus support it. The current Democratic leaders — Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) — would be considered as already serving their third term. That means they would all need two-thirds of House Democrats — just over 155 Democrats — to support a bid for another term beyond 2020.

