GOP congressmen Ted Cruz and Ron DeSantis filed an amendment on Tuesday that would impose term limits on members of Congress, according to The Hill. The amendment would limit House members to serving three, two year terms and members of the Senate to two, six year terms. Currently there are no term limits on members of congress.
During his presidential campaign Donald Trump supported term limits although it appeared at the time that having them passed in Congress would not be an easy feat. Sen. Mitch McConnell noted his opposition to the policy. “We have term limits they’re called elections,” he said.
The new resolution includes a stipulation that any terms prior to the amendment would not be taken into account when determining whether or not a lawmaker is able to run.
So far, there has been no indication from House Speaker Paul Ryan or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that the measure introduced by Cruz and DeSantis could come up for a vote. GOP senators Deb Fischer, Ron Johnson, Thom Tillis, Marco Rubio, Mike Lee and David Perdue are backing the proposal, according to The Hill.
“It is well past time to put an end to the cronyism and deceit that has transformed Washington into a graveyard of good intentions,” said Cruz.
Three-fourths of state legislatures would have to approve the proposal, in addition to Congress if the law is to go into effect.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has previously stated that he does in fact support term limits, according to the Washington Post, stating “I’ve always been a fan of term limits. I’ve always supported that. I’ve always believed that this should be something that you serve temporary, not for an entire lifetime.”
