U.S. Term Limits

Feb. 1, 2012, Fairfax, VA—U.S. Senator Jim DeMint is moving to attach a "Sense of the Senate" amendment to gauge support for term limits with a vote possible in the next two days.

Commenting on the DeMint effort, U.S. Term Limits President Phil Blumel said, "Senator DeMint is taking an important first step toward moving the term limits issue to center stage in the congressional debate. At a time when Congress is suffering from near single digit approval ratings, the time has never been more right to pass a term limits constitutional amendment."

The amendment is being offered to the STOCK legislation, which is designed to deal with recent scandals involving Members of Congress using insider information.

U.S. Term Limits denounces Missouri power grab

February 1, 2012 – Fairfax, VA – U.S. Term Limits President Philip Blumel denounced HJR 41, an effort by state politicians who will have to leave office unless it passes to lengthen their tenure in Jefferson City to 24 years.

“HJR 41 guts the current term limits in Missouri and would force voters to once again deal with an issue that was overwhelmingly decided years ago,” according to Blumel.

Currently, the Missouri state constitution limits state senators to serve two four-year terms in office and state representatives to four two-year terms. HJR 41 would allow these legislators to camp out in the Senate and House of Representatives for 24 years.

Click here to continue reading.

Florida state legislators calling for Congressional term limits

Florida Sen. Joe Negron has sponsored a Senate companion for Rep. Matt Caldwell's resolution, or memorial as they are called in the legislature, calling for term limits on the U.S. Congress.

With a term limits amendment bill with cosponsors in both Houses of Congress for the first time since the mid-1990s, it is time for us to put the pressure on Congress anyway we can to cosponsor and vote for these bills. One way is to have our state legislatures officially call for Congressional term limits.

Sen. Joe Negron and Rep. Matt Caldwell are taking the lead for the 79 percent of Floridians who support the idea.

Sen. Negron's bill -- SM 672 -- is a mirror of Rep. Caldwell's HM 83 that, if passed, would officially call for Congressional term limits. Moreover, it resolves that “copies of this memorial be dispatched to the President of the United States, to the President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and to each member of the Florida delegation to the United States Congress."

U.S. Term Limits praises Michigan Senate candidate Gary Glenn for pledge

Fairfax, VA – U.S. Term Limits (USTL), the leader in the national movement to limit terms for elected officials, praised Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Gary Glenn for promising to support and co-sponsor an amendment to the U.S. Constitution limiting congressional terms.

Philip Blumel commented on Glenn’s pledge saying, “Gary Glenn is leading the way for the other candidates for the U.S. Senate by being an early signer of the term limits pledge.

Glenn’s commitment to returning to citizen government in Washington, D.C. is a beacon that should be followed by candidates across the nation.”

The U.S. Term Limits Amendment Pledge has been provided to every announced candidate for federal office. It reads, “I pledge that as a member of Congress I will cosponsor and vote for the U.S. Term Limits Amendment of three (3) House terms and two (2) Senate terms and no longer limit.”

The U.S. Term Limits Constitutional Amendment has been introduced in both the U.S. Senate by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) and the House of Representatives by Representative David Schweikert (R-AZ). This session of Congress marks the first time in nearly twenty years that a serious term limits bill has appeared in both Houses with co-sponsorship.

Blumel noted, “The dysfunction in Washington, D.C. has never been greater, and people have had enough of politics as usual. Many members of Congress are getting on board as they become increasingly frustrated with the status quo. Fortunately, with candidates like Gary Glenn jumping into the fray, the political pressure for the constitutional amendment will continue building toward successful passage.”

According to the last nationwide poll on term limits conducted by Public Opinion Dynamics for Fox News in September 2010, the issue enjoys wide bi-partisan support. The poll showed that 78 percent of Americans support congressional term limits, including 74 percent independents and 74 percent of the nation’s Democrats.

Blumel concluded, “America is in trouble. Our career politicians have let the people down. It is time to limit their terms and return control of our nation to people who have actually had to create a job, earn an honest paycheck and pay a mortgage. It is time for a constitutional amendment limiting congressional terms.”

The term limits amendment bills would require a two-thirds majority vote in the House and Senate, and ratification by 38 states in order to become part of the Constitution.

Rep. Raul Labrador Now Supports Term Limits

BOISE – Freshman Congressman Raul Labrador says after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and seeing what it’s really like, he’s changed his mind and now supports term limits.

“This is actually an area where I have changed in the last eight months. I believe that we need term limits in politics, especially congressional politics,” Labrador told the City Club of Boise on Tuesday. “I have been very disappointed being back in Washington, D.C., where I have heard people actually voice openly that the reason they’re not making the tough decisions that we have to make, that they know we have to make for this nation, is because they’re worried about the next election.”

He said, “It’s really a shame … All decisions back in Washington, D.C., are based on whether you’re going to be elected, re-elected, whether you’re going to be in the majority or not.” (Click here to continue reading)

Florida Courts Protect County Commission Term Limits

On Aug. 10, the Florida 4th District Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision that had overturned voter-approved term limits in Broward County. Further appeals are not expected.

In other words, the court has ruled that county commissioner term limits ARE constitutional in Florida.

This marks a great victory for the voters and a loss for professional politicians. Thanks to the Broward County attorney’s office for doing a great job in defending the people’s will and all the term limits supporters around the state that rallied behind their popular term limits laws. For the full story, see www.flatermlimits.blogspot.com.

People Support Term Limits Because They Distrust Politicians (California)

Ever since the people of California, back in 1990, passed Proposition 140 and imposed term limits on California’s Constitutional officers and the state Legislature, there have been efforts promoted by political insiders to do away with those limits, or at least to weaken them. At every turn the voters have rejected these attempts, maintaining California’s term limits, which are the strongest in the nation – two four-year terms for statewide officeholders and state Senators and three two-year terms in the Assembly, with a lifetime ban in place after these limits have been reached.

Financed by public employee unions and by a businessman who was currying favor with the Legislature to get laws waived on his behalf, yet another measure will come before voters at the next statewide election, likely in June, to substantially weaken legislative term limits. While this effort is very likely to fail, it will not be the last such attempt. Politicians and the people engaged directly with them find term limits to be an inconvenient insertion of the people’s will into what they prefer to be a Patrician process.

There has been an increased level of “chatter” amongst California’s elites as they have expressed their pleasure (especially newspaper editorial boards) at a new research paper released by the Center for Government Studies (CGS) that is critical of term limits for, among other reasons, not achieving the desired goal of proponents of creating a “citizen legislature” where ex-pols go back home to live under the laws they helped create, and also for causing a “dearth” of experience within the Legislature.

U.S. Term Limits Releases Radio Ad in Missouri

U.S. Term Limits has launched a radio ad (click here to listen) condemning State Senator Kevin Engler for his support of increasing term limits.

U.S. Term Limits President Phil Blumel and Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder Address SJR 12 Which Would Double the Terms of Missouri Legislators

U.S. Term limits President Phil Blumel delivered the following speech today in Missouri alongside Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder:

Sen. Jim DeMint Introduces Term Limits Amendment

The Constitutional Amendment would allow members of the House of Representatives to serve a maximum of three terms of two years, and Senators would be limited to two terms of six years each.

“The waves of change that have hit Washington, DC over the past couple of election cycles would be meaningful if those who lead Congress and its committees weren’t standard political insiders with little connection remaining to those who they were elected to serve. Today, Senator DeMint and 10 Senate Republicans have taken a bold step to change the culture of corruption and entitlement in our nation’s capitol.”

78 percent of Americans support congressional term limits according to a September 2010 FoxNews Public Opinion Dynamics poll of registered voters. Enjoying overwhelming bi-partisan support, 74 percent of Democrats polled favored term limits with 84 percent of Republicans indicating support.

The poll showed that support has jumped by 8 percent from the last nationwide poll conducted by the same firm in March 2009 poll registered that 70 percent of Americans supported congressional term limits.

“The myth that professional legislators are needed to deal with the complexity of government today is exposed by the $14.3 trillion national debt hole that has been created by the very professional politicians who make this argument. We can no longer afford career politicians who defer tough decisions to commissions and other non-elected bodies. Limiting terms will allow citizen legislators to come to Washington, DC, fix the problems and then go home to resume their lives, instead of becoming encamped in the cloistered world inside the DC Beltway,” Blumel concluded.

Passage of the Constitutional Amendment requires a two-thirds vote of both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives followed by passage in 37 states. It is anticipated that a companion bill will be introduced in the House of Representatives.

Uhler & Fleischman Push For California GOP To Oppose AFL-CIO's Term Limits Weakening Measure

As delegates arrive today for the California Republican Party's Convention in Sacramento, it will be the hope of those gathered that there will be no special election for the purposes of asking the voters to (once again) reject tax increases. A look back will reveal that the last seven times that California voters have had a chance to do so, they have rejected higher taxes.

That having been said, there is still an unfortunate possibly that some deal gets struck and we end up with a special election for June of this year. That said, in addition to anything that would be placed on the special election ballot as part of an ill-advised deal, there are two ballot measures that have already been qualified and will appear on the state's next ballot. One is a tobacco tax measure. The other is a measure championed by the AFL-CIO to weaken California's term-limits law.

This weekend the CRP has an opportunity to take positions on ballot measures, and so I have teamed up with Lew Uhler, President of the National Tax Limitation Committee, to introduce the following resolution to the CRP's Initiatives Committee for consideration, the passage of which would put the record in opposition to the term-limits weakening measure. (Continue reading here.)

JOURNAL-STANDARD: An argument for term limits (Illinois)

By The Journal-Standard

Freeport, Ill. — Often the argument against term limits for politicians is tied to experience.

Opponents of limiting how long a person can hold elective office argue we will lose professionals who have “the right stuff” to navigate legislation through the political process. They point to the advantage that a long-term office holder has when it comes to committee appointments and influence within both political parties and elective legislative bodies.

In realistic terms, however, we in Illinois have a front row seat on arguments that favor limiting the term elected officials can stay in office.

Consider our current crisis. Veteran elected officials have led this state to the brink of bankruptcy and maintain a government that consistently spends more than it generates in revenue, even after raising income and corporate taxes by stunning percentages. (Continue reading here.)

For Smaller Government, Elect Shorter Lawmakers

The Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives is promising to cut $100 billion from domestic spending this year. The Tea Party caucus’s response? I’ll see your $100 billion and raise you $2.4 trillion over 10 years.

Both groups are barking up the wrong tree or, to use a more appropriate animal analogy, putting the cart before the horse. The road to real deficit reduction, not a cosmetic nip and tuck, runs through term limits. If Americans are truly interested in shrinking the size of government -- one of the takeaways from the 2010 midterm election -- they can start by limiting the amount of time lawmakers are allowed to serve.

This would require a constitutional amendment (see U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 1995), no mean feat, requiring as it does approval by a two-thirds majority in Congress. But not impossible either. Recent events in the Middle East demonstrate just how potent people power can be. (Continue reading here.)

U.S. Term Limits praises House Republican Leader Boehner for restoring committee chairman limits

Fairfax, VA, December 22nd, 2010—U.S. Term Limits President Philip Blumel today praised House Republican Leader John Boehner for restoring House rules limiting the number of year a member of Congress can serve as the chairman of a committee.

“Speaker-elect Boehner is clearly listening to the American people, who don’t want congressional committee chairmen to become institutions unto themselves. Boehner deserves the thanks of all Americans,” Blumel said.

“Committee chairmen term limits will allow new blood to take leadership spots, and bring fresh ideas to key committees,” Blumel added.

Under the new proposed rules, members will be limited to three two-year terms as committee chairmen. This rule had existed under the previous Republican majority, but was eliminated when Democrats took control of the majority in 2007. (Continue reading here.)

U.S. Term Limits Praises Senator DeMint effort to bring term limits to Senate floor