by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News January 9, 2025
Republicans, led by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, have introduced a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to impose term limits for members of Congress.
The amendment would limit U.S. senators to two six-year terms and U.S. House members to three two-year terms.
Given what it takes to get a Constitutional amendment passed, does the GOP's proposal stand a chance?
Amending the U.S. Constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate. The amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of the states, 38 out of 50. The president has no constitutional role in the process.
The Constitution may also be amended through a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures. This has never happened. All 27 amendments to the Constitution were passed by Congress and ratified by the states. The last amendment to the Constitution was made in 1992.
Under the Republicans' proposal, the longest anyone could serve in Congress would be 18 years. Democrat Rep. Nancy Pelosi has been a member of the House for 37 years.
The resolution proposes that after a member of the U.S. House has served three terms, they aren’t eligible to be reelected to the House. After a U.S. senator has served two terms, they are no longer eligible to be elected or appointed to the U.S. Senate.
“Term limits are critical to fixing what’s wrong with Washington, D.C.,” said Cruz, who in November was elected to this third term in the Senate. “The Founding Fathers envisioned a government of citizen legislators who would serve for a few years and return home, not a government run by a small group of special interests and lifelong, permanently entrenched politicians who prey upon the brokenness of Washington to govern in a manner that is totally unaccountable to the American people. Term limits bring about long-overdue accountability. I urge my colleagues to advance this amendment to the states so that it may be quickly ratified and become a constitutional amendment.”
Co-sponsoring the joint resolution with Cruz are Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Todd Young of Indiana, Steve Daines of Montana, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Eric Schmitt of Missouri, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Katie Britt of Alabama, and Jim Banks of Indiana.
Republican Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina introduced the companion resolution in the House.
“Elected office should represent a short-term privilege of public service, not a career choice,” Norman said. “Those of us in Congress ought to serve for a reasonable period of time and then return home to live under the laws we enacted.”
The two-page resolution states that after the amendment is passed by Congress and ratified by the states, the amendment would go into effect “within seven years after the date of its submission by the Congress.”
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