Should There Be Term Limits for Congress?

Should term limits be imposed on Members of Congress?

From time to time, the idea of putting term limits on Congressmen comes up.

The most recent example is legislation that was introduced by Congressman Francis Rooney (R-FL). He proposed legislation that is designed to effectively impose term limits without having to amend the Constitution by cutting Members’ pay after a set amount of time. The theory is that people wouldn’t want to remain in Congress for no pay.

Other such bills have introduced in the past but have ultimately failed to advance. In 2012, for example, Congressman Reid Ribble (R-WI) introduced an amendment that would have imposed term limits. It failed to advance.

A Constitutional amendment is a tall order. One must be proposed either by the Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures. None have ever been proposed by a Constitutional convention.

That is likely one reason why Congressman Rooney introduced his legislation to find another way to effectively impose term limits.

The original survey is now closed, but you can read about the results (see FedSmith Users Overwhelmingly Support Term Limits for Congress) and also share your opinion in the comments below.

About the Author

Ian Smith is one of the co-founders of FedSmith.com. He has over 20 years of combined experience in media and government services, having worked at two government contracting firms and an online news and web development company prior to his current role at FedSmith.