Updated: 10:56 a.m.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told Members during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday that the Republican Steering Committee will not drop its six-year term limits for committee chairmen and ranking members next year but will consider exemptions for some top members, according to several sources in attendance.

Boehner said the term-limit rule would stay in place in most cases and told members to “plan accordingly,” but he added that some committee leaders could see their terms extended in “extraordinary” circumstances.

Boehner said, “We don’t know what’s going to happen in November,” according to one source. “The Steering Committee will be in the position of possibly offering waivers” if Republicans take back the House or other election results merit reconsidering the term limits.

Republicans first implemented limited terms for chairmen and ranking members when they took over the House in 1995 as part of the “Contract With America,” and they cried foul when Democrats eliminated that rule last year.