An interesting bill. I have hoped for Congressional term limits for a while now. It is shocking to know that there are Congressmen who have held office for over twenty to fifty years. A strict term limit to members of Congress should help reduce lobbying, corruption and career politicians who have lost sight of what they originally stood for: the People.

Congress is commonly called the peoples house, there is a reason for this. They are up for election every 2 years. If a representative is not liked, it is quite easy to oust said representative. This bill is pointless.

Too many voters are uninformed and merely vote for a recognizable name. Too many times these are people who need to move on to other jobs and quit living off the American people.

We vote for President every 4 years, same as Senators. Why should the Presidency have a term limit but not the Congress?

I have thought about this for a while. I think it is good. It gives others a chance instead of having the same guy in there for 40 years and set in his ways. It doesn’t make sense to limit the President and not members of congress and I am not in favor of removing Presidential limits.

The only problem to this is it doesn’t start soon enough and count the terms already served which means we are stuck with the people there now for another 12 years. More than enough time for them to change their minds and repeal it.

Repealing it wouldn’t be so easy – they’d have to get 3/4th of the state legislatures to agree with repealing it. And guess what state legislators want to be when they grow up: Congressmen/women

The state legislatures would never vote to repeal since they want the old congress people out so they can run for congress in their place.

Any changed to the constitution of the united states has to be ratified by EVERY state. And it takes a 2/3 majority vote to enact a constitutional amendment.

let me clarify, it 2/3 majority vote of congress to enact an amendment.

I apologize, I got my wires crossed. 3/4 is correct.

when related to the states ratification of a constitutional amendment.

This bill isn’t the answer. Let me vote for who I want to vote for. The solution is to fix our money-driven campaign system that virtually guarantees incumbent re-election.

Which will never happen while we have the same people in office.

Take away career politicians, you begin to eliminate money-driven campaign system. i.e. enact term limits, you begin to eliminate the money-driven campaign system in favor of a Citizen Legislature.

Might I also add that this directly relates to the beginning of the elimination of a climate of corruption in our government that has plagued it for decades?

This bill is a good start. I think that 3 terms max is a good idea. It would give someone plenty of time to figure out the system and then be able to get some real work done in their 3rd term without have to spend so much time trying to get relected.

We in Louisiana have term limits and believe me it helps to get rid of dead weight. We have a long way to go, but that was a start. The only problem is once they serve in one body, they can run for election in the other. But they are still limited in a way. I would be shocked if our representatives in Washington ever went along with this. We can’t even get them to agree to vote on their pay raises every year They are automatic so they don’t have to answer to their people back home.

I say vote out ALL incumbents, pass this bill, but make it 4 term limits at 2 years each! PERIOD!!! or, 2 Term limit at 4 years each!.. and, change the salary structure, change the way they can up their salary to be controlled by ALL of the people, NO MORE FULL PAY RETIREMENTS! This is a must!

This will help get rid of the “lifers”. This and campaign reform should help to keep thes parasites from draining the life blood of the American people.

I’ve heard people attack this with “what if we have a great representative but he is limited to only a few terms. Then we aren’t listening to what the people want.” This is just to prevent corruption. If we work at it we can find someone who will listen to us and stand up for us in congress. If our previous congressman was great, then I am sure that they would help us find a good representative to take their place when their term is up. But they are there to work for us and if we leave them in there too long, then the power and the money gets to their head and their connections grow making it harder and harder to switch them out.

Interesting that this would limit Senators to 2 terms, considering it was sponsored and co-sponsored by 3 senators who are all on their 4th term. Typical hypocrisy from these particular senators. It is doubtful they would have even proposed this if they thought there was any possible way it would be voted into law. There is no reason to believe that would even vote for it. Look at all the recent legislation these 3 have added ridiculous amendments to and then voted against; then took credit for them to their constituants.

Personally, I’d like to see them lead by example.

A Senator’s term is 6 years long… Senator Vitter was elected to the Senate in 2004 (1st Term), Senator DeMint was elected to the Senate in 2004 (1st Term), Senator Coburn was elected to the Senate in 2004 (1st Term). All of the above Senators served in the House of Representatives prior to their election to the senate. Vitter was elected in 1994, DeMint in 1994 and Coburn in 1999.

The only exception to this is Senator Brownback. He was elected in 1996 after a special election that was percipitated by Sen Bob Dole resignation. He was elected to a full 6 year term in 1998 and was re-elected in 2004. He already said he’s not going to seek re-election in 2010.

Seems to me like all of these gentlemen are leading by example… hmm…

Try doing some research before you spout off mindless, ignorant babble.

I apologize, I reversed election years, DeMint was elected in 1998 to the House, Coburn was elected in 1994 to the House.

You Go!!!!! I the post you commented on and was just about to chime in until I read your response. I couldn’t have said it better myself…. Oh, and lt’s not forget that Tom Coburn left Congress because of his own “Self Imposed” term limits and returned to his medical pratice in Oklahoma until he was convinced to run for office in the Senate..He promised the people of his district in klahoma that he wouldn’t hold a congressional seat for more than three terms and he kept that promise even though he would have very easily won re-election. He is one of the few who did…….

Two terms is plenty. A career congressman is too out of touch. Take dear old Ted Kennedy. Did he ever have to hold another job his whole life? Could he possibly have known what the life of the average American might be like?

He never held down a job of any kind that was outside of politics. He used his his father’s money,his family name, and his brother’s fame to get into political office and he never had a clue throughout his entire life about what the life of an average American is like. All he ever knew about was spendng other people’s money as if it belonged to him and then demanding more whenever he got the urge. He was a parisite who spent his entire adult life feeding from the trough of the public treasury and doing everything he could to undermine our uniquely Amerian freedom while truly extraordinary “average” Americans worked, sweated, bled, and died to help keep America strong and free.. Just my opinion…

It’s been said that absolute power corrupts absolutely. That statement has never been more true than it is today. I see absolutely no reason why there shouldn’t be term limits on Congressman/women and senators. These are people who have no real intention of following our Constitution an walking in the footsteps o our nation’s founders. They have essentially become a pack of power hungry parisites who are addicted to the power of elected office and they will never relinquish that power without one hell of a fight, They crave the power and title of office just exactly the same way the heroin addict craves the next dose and they will quite literally do whatever the can do toget their next “fix”. Tht’s precisely they must be uprooted, driven out of office, and replaced by honest and loyal Americans who will truly put America ahead of their own petty greed.

To add, People like Charles Rangel, Maxine Waters, Newt Gingrich, and a whole host of other disgraceful criminals are a perfect illustration of why term limits are needed. The simple sad truth is that they will never ever bring a bill imposing term limits to a vote because they would basically be cutting their own legs out from under themselves. That’s just exactly why they will never allow the people they profess to represent a vote on what the amount congressional and senatoeial salaries should be. They have put themselves above the needs of the country and her people. The public treasury is the trough from which they feed and they will never walk way from that until they are forced to…They are corrupt and dishonest to their cores and will do anything they can to feed off the fruits of our labors without ever contributing anything of their own for as long as they possibly can. It should be obvious to anyone who has a sound mind, who ad what those people are……..