Senator Cruz has been a strong sponsor in the past and is again this year.
Now remember, it was Cruz who held the first hearings on congressional term limits in the U.S. Senate in a generation. Recall that our own Nick Tomboulides, Executive Director of U.S. Term Limits, testified before that subcommittee. The video of Nick’s testimony has gone viral on YouTube and has been viewed by millions.
The bills have been filed again this year and a vote is promised. But let’s get real. Is it possible the U.S. House will pass congressional term limits on themselves?
Now, before we answer that question, let’s look back to the heady days of the early 1990s when congressional term limits got several votes in the house. In the ‘90s, the House of Representatives voted 227 to 204 in favor of a Constitutional amendment limiting congressional terms. At 53%, that exceeds a simple majority.
In 1995 and 1997, “Yea” votes were cast by both Democrats and Republicans alike and include such familiar names as James Clyburn, Joe Scarborough, Dick Armey, John Boehner, Sonny Bono, Newt Gingrich, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich, Bill Pascrell, and John Sununu. Even Ray Thornton, of U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton voted in favor of term limits.
The reason that this bill didn’t pass in the nineties is because a two-thirds vote is needed to pass a proposal for a constitutional amendment.
However, the votes did prove that if lawmakers get enough pressure from citizens like you, members of Congress will indeed vote to limit their own power.
Now keep in mind the US Term Limits movement today has something that we did not have on our side back in 1995…the Term Limits Convention project.
Why does that matter? Under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, if two thirds of the states call for an amendment writing convention, it shall be called.
Once this happens for the sole purpose of term limits, Congress will see the writing on the wall. They know term limits will imminently be codified into law. If it is going to happen anyway, they will want to dictate the terms themselves. They don’t want to hand it off to state legislators in convention who would be looking for a promotion to Congress.
Under this enormous pressure, you can bet that the U.S. Congress will take action to term limit itself. It’ll be in their self-interest to do so.
Today, there are already 133 votes by members of Congress who have signed the U.S. Term Limits pledge to cosponsor and vote for this particular bill. This puts our resolution in a much better position than it was in the term limits heyday of the 1990s. This is our strategy.
We need to keep the pressure up. Contact your federal lawmakers by taking action at termlimits.com/takeaction.