Who Voted Against Term Limits For Congress

by USTL Staff

The USTL amendment for term limits on Congress is dead. It was killed by just two votes. The House Judiciary Committee voted down HJR11. Why? Because you can’t ask turkeys to vote for Thanksgiving. The whip count was in our favor, but conveniently, three of our pledge signers were nowhere to be found. Had they showed up and voted as they promised, our bill would have gone to the House floor.

The circus was quite astounding. Their institutional knowledge of gaming the system was hard at work. It is shocking no one broke a hip while jockeying for position to get in the egotistical virtue signal soundbite of the day.

During both the hearings, several members used their time to rail against term limits, ignoring the will of 87% of Americans who support ending career politicians in D.C.

The most vehemently opposed was a bipartisan group of Rep. Tom McClintock (CA), Rep. Steve Cohen (TN), Rep. Hank Johnson (GA), Rep. Glen Ivey (MD) and Rep. Harriet Hageman (WY). Democratic and Republican Party politicians don’t agree on much… but they did come together to vote down term limits on their own offices.

It’s amazing anything gets done in Congress. While the defeat came from both sides of the aisle, Rep. Cohen and others decided to make the term limits hearing about the “hooey” going on in the House. That’s right. His discussion was mostly about the impeachment of President Biden and what he called “The Republican Shutdown.” Most of his testimony had absolutely nothing to do with term limits on Congress… except to say that “people” tell him to never retire.

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What?!?!

In an era where the Congress is the oldest it’s ever been. When the senate minority leader regularly, and quite literally, short-circuits for half a minute during his press conferences. And when feeble octogenarians and nonagenarians clutch on to their seats, like Don Young and Dianne Feinstein, until death do us part.

When media reports on term limits and age limits are omnipresent, these clowns decide Congress is just fine the way it is… a nursing home rife with dysfunction and scandal.

This proves that, not only will they not pass term limits, but it’s obvious the partisanship keeps them from doing anything. With 87% approval rating, term limits outpace Congress’s 17% approval by a whopping 70%!

Yet, incumbents get re-elected 97% of the time. It’s not because people love them so much and don’t want to see them “retire,” it’s because the voters are disengaged and have no real choice. Their options are, as Bevis and Butthead would say, “between a Giant Douche and a Shit Sandwich.”

This makes it clearer than ever that the only way to impose term limits on Congress is through the states via an Article V convention, a power granted to the states by the Constitution.

During the full Judiciary Committee hearing, nineteen nay votes were cast against HJR 11. Nineteen individuals dead set against limiting their own power. Tennessee Rep. Cohen claimed that his constituents walked up to him on the street insisting that he never, not run. He referred to term limits as “hooey”.

Rep. Harriet Hageman had perhaps the most egregious testimony. She agreed that Washington is dysfunctional and needs severe change. And she wants term limits… but not for Congress! She wants them for congressional staffers. She seriously argued, with a straight face, that term limits are good for thee but not for me, pointing her finger and referring to them as Washington’s bureaucracy. According to Hageman, they are the culprits for all that is wrong in Washington. To borrow a phrase from Congressman Cohen, hooey!

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Rep. Glenn Ivey claims that if they want term limits so badly, the pledge signers should just retire. But that wouldn’t solve the problem. It must apply to the entire Congress. Could you imagine if all the good guys left and only the careerists made it to leadership?

Rep. Hank Johnson wanted term limits too. But not for himself either. He outlined all the reasons the Supreme Court needed term limits but it sounded as if he was describing the problems that plagued his own party’s Sen. Menendez who was the indicted days before this hearing. Another one who justified term limits for thee but not for me!

These proceedings demonstrate the impermeable firewall that exists in Washington against term limits; a kangaroo court. Although the Judiciary Subcommittee passed HJR11 onto the full committee for a hearing, the cards were stacked against the resolution right from the start. Due to self interests, members of Congress are unwilling to pass a constitutional amendment for term limits. Thus demonstrating the need for states to pass resolutions to bring forth an Article V convention.

Passage of both the 17th and 22nd Amendments were results of Congress’s response to calls for a convention. In 1911, the Senate faced 31 states calling for a convention. The Senate’s response was the proposal and passage of a joint resolution which would become the 17th Amendment. Again in 1951, the 22nd Amendment limiting the president’s terms in office was passed. Passage of both constitutional amendments were in response to quell an imminent threat of a potential Article V convention.

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A convention has never happened and there is a slim chance that an Article V convention will ever happen. Why is having the states call for a convention on term limits when it will likely never happen? The answer is PRESSURE. In 1911 and 1951, the pressure of a convention where the states would set the rules forced Congress to act.

Should an Article V convention look imminent, Congress would not put their fate in the hands of delegates appointed by the states. State lawmakers recognize a path for them to fill the open seats term limits would create… and we suspect a term limits proposal from a convention would favor new blood rising up through the legislatures instead of a proposal from Congress that would certainly grandfather the incumbents in.

Or they could include provisions allowing a clock reset to the date of ratification. Thus, clearing the slate of previous time served and allowing incumbents to begin new terms under the constitutional amendment ratified.

By pre-empting a convention, Congress could set their own terms rather than allow state lawmakers to do so.

The clarion call is clear. State legislatures must pass the term limits convention resolution to force Congress’s hand. State lawmakers must recognize that they are the only path forward and that almost certainly, Congress will preempt an Article V convention and rush to pass their own term limits proposal. It is time to clean the house, the House of Representatives. And we’ll get the Senate while we’re at it!

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