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The People's Business
(A Time for Change)
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Proposals
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There are a
number of proposals at the moment for congressional term limits,
including two actually in Congress now:
H.J.Res. 20--112th Congress and S.J.Res. 11--112th Congress.
Also, some term limits on judges have been proposed in the
literature, but no resolutions are before Congress.
We have found no evidence, however, that anyone is currently
proposing different term limits on the President or Vice President.
If we’re ever going to permanently change
Washington, we must change the process that
encourages career politicians to amass personal power instead of
making the hard decisions for the nation.
We need true citizen legislators who spend their time
defending the constitution, not currying favor with lobbyists. We
need new leaders continually coming to Congress to ensure every
taxpayer dollar is spent wisely, not wasted on
Washington
special interests. We must end the era of permanent politicians that
has led us to a $14 trillion debt and a pending fiscal crisis.
Senator Jim DeMint,
R-SC
(quoted
by Caroline May, 4/15/2011, The Daily Caller)
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Congress |
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Attempts to Create Change
by the Current (112th) Congress
Early in 2011
bills were introduced in both the House and Senate proposing a
constitutional amendment limiting the number of consecutive terms
members of Congress may serve. Several variations were later
introduced in the House. It doesn't appear that action will be
taken on any of these bills. |
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112TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION |
H. J. RES. 20 |
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112TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION |
S. J. RES. 11 |
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This House bill, limiting House
members to 6 terms and Senators to 2, was
introduced on January 18, 2011, by Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA19).
It was sent to committee,
where it still sat as of March 21, 2012.
(TRACK
THIS BILL) This was a reintroduction of H.J.
Res. 14 (111th Congress), which was introduced on January 8, 2009,
and allowed to die. |
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This Senate bill,
limiting House members to 3 terms and Senators to 2, was
introduced on April 14, 2011, by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC).
(SEE PRESS RELEASE) It had not yet been referred to
committee as of March 21, 2012.
(TRACK
THIS BILL) This was a reintroduction of S.J.
Res. 21 (111th Congress), which was introduced on November 10, 2009,
and allowed to die. |
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112TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION |
H. J. RES. 96 |
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This House bill, limiting House members to 4
terms and Senators to 2, was
introduced on December 20, 2011, by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA8).
It was sent to committee,
where it still sat as of March 21, 2012.
(TRACK
THIS BILL) |
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112TH CONGRESS
2ND SESSION |
H. J. RES.
101 |
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This House bill, limiting House members to 3
terms of 4 years and Senators to 2 terms, was
introduced on February 6, 2012, by Rep. Reid Ribble (R-WI8).
It was sent to committee,
where it still sat as of March 21, 2012.
(TRACK
THIS BILL) |
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112TH CONGRESS
2ND SESSION |
H. J. RES.
105 |
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This House bill, limiting House members to 6
terms and Senators to 2, was
introduced on February 29, 2012, by Rep. Reid Ribble (R-WI8).
It was sent to committee,
where it still sat as of March 21, 2012.
(TRACK
THIS BILL) |
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Earlier Attempts
As part of the 1994
"Contract with America" pledge, the Republican Legislature proposed
"THE
CITIZEN LEGISLATURE ACT: A first-ever vote on term limits to
replace career politicians with citizen legislators." This
resolution provided for consideration of two joint resolutions which
proposed amendments to the constitution limiting the number of terms
members of the Senate and the House of Representatives can serve.
These bills passed House and Senate committees, then failed on the
House floor.
(SEE CONTRACT SCORECARD) |
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During the 2010 Campaign, Republicans
produced a 21-page document entitled "Pledge to America," which,
this time, failed to include term limit provisions.
(Brian Montopoli, Jill Jackson, "Pledge to America" Unveiled by
Republicans, September 22, 2010, CBS News) |
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Grassroots
Attempts |
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We found a number of
independent organizations which are organizing grassroots campaigns
to limit congressional terms. This list might not include
every group. Groups listed below are
organized alphabetically. Italicized information is quoted
from each individual website. |
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THE CITIZENS FOUNDATION FOR BETTER
GOVERNMENT is a nonprofit, nonpartisan foundation established in
2009 ….
Our goal is to remove lifelong career
politicians from Congress forever by overseeing the passage of a
constitutional Amendment that defines the number of consecutive
terms and years that anyone elected to Congress may serve.
We want to restore Congress as a citizen
legislature, as intended by our founders; eliminate the culture of
corruption that pervades Congress; restore accountability and
control to the People; and secure better government for all
Americans….
(READ THEIR
PROPOSAL)
(SIGN THEIR
PETITION)
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CITIZENS FOR U.S. DIRECT INITIATIVES
INC. (CUSDI) is a
nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt Corporation. It was incorporated
and registered in Washington
State on February 13, 2004.
Our mission is to develop and present on
the Internet a comprehensive blueprint to enable a practical and
achievable direct democracy process. This process will permit
long-term solutions to excessive influence of the U.S. Government by
wealthy special interests and other matters that trouble the People.
(READ
THEIR PROPOSAL)
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ONELETTER
hopes to effect
positive change in American government by facilitating a grassroots
movement to establish a 28th amendment to the United States
Constitution which will limit consecutive terms for both houses in
Congress. We document real letters mailed to and from Congress
regarding term limits.
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TENURECORRUPTS.COM.
The name of this site
says it all. The professional career politicians in Congress are
destroying our great country. A 'CitizenCongress' would be healthier
for our republic. We need Term Limits in Congress.
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We, the
TERM LIMITS FOR THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS Party, feel
that Congress should be limited to 12 years per House. That
is, two-6 year terms for each member of the Senate and six-two year
terms for each member of the House of Representatives.
(The TERM LIMITS FOR UNITED STATES CONGRESS Party is
recognized in Florida.)
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Term Limits is still known as the
largest grassroots movement in American history, and
US TERM LIMITS (USTL) was, and still is, the leader of
that movement.
Term limits
have been placed on 15 state legislatures, eight of the ten largest
cities in America
adopted term limits for their city councils and/or mayor,
and 37 states place term limits on their constitutional officers.
(SIGN THEIR PETITION)
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Supreme Court
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There are no proposals before Congress to limit the tenure of
federal judges, but we have found several academics and legal
experts writing about the topic of setting term limits for the
Supreme Court. |
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Roger Cramton, professor of law emeritus and former dean at
Cornell Law School, proposes:
Supreme Court justices would retain lifetime
appointments -- just not to the high court. Every president would
get to appoint a Supreme Court justice every two years, in sync with
the legislature's election cycle, without waiting for a vacancy.
Justices would rotate off the court after 18 years. But instead of
retiring, they would have the option to serve as senior justices on
the circuit and appeals courts, similar to the circuit-riding judges
of the nation's earliest days, or devote themselves to reviewing and
updating the procedural rules of federal courts.
Cramtom, Roger, Law professor proposes term limits for Supreme Court
justices. Cornell Chronicle, Vol. 36, No. 19; January 27, 2005.
(READ ARTICLE)
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Steven G. Calabresi
and James Lindgren of Northwestern University propose:
that lawmakers pass a constitutional amendment pursuant to
Article V of the Constitution instituting a system of staggered,
eighteen-year term limits for Supreme Court Justices. The Court’s
membership would be constitutionally fixed at nine Justices, whose
terms would be staggered such that a vacancy would occur on the
Court every two years at the end of the term in every odd-numbered
calendar year. Every one-term President would thus get to appoint
two Justices and every two-term President would get to appoint four.
Calabresi, Steven G. and Lindgren, James T., Term Limits for the
Supreme Court: Life Tenure Reconsidered. Harvard Journal of Law and
Public Policy, Vol. 29, No. 3; Northwestern Public Law Research
Paper No. 07-24.
(READ
STUDY)
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