Having the government Limit the number of terms for Congress, such as we do with the President of the US, is often proposed by a constitutional amendment through a convention of the states. The information I was sent is below.
I didn't sign for a few reasons.
One, is term limits do not limit the terms of the Bureaucrats. They tend to gain power when there are term limits mandated, other than from voting.
Two is the last time we had a convention of the states, we got a new constitution.
Convention of the States
Convention of the
States, or in some cases referred to the Con Con is the 2nd way in the
Constitution that allows our US Constitution to be modified.
Article V
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it
necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the
application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states,
shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which,
in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states,
or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress;
provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one
thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the
first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and
that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal
suffrage in the Senate.
The first problem is we haven't done this since we created
our constitution in Sep. 17, 1787. The last time we had a convention of
the states we got a new US Constitution.
The 2nd problem is that the State Legislatures Tell Congress to call a
convention. Congress fully believes based on our Constitution that they
get to set the mode of ratification, the rules, etc.
In 2015 and 2016, I actively fought these resolutions,
because they are binding on the state, and I don't trust the people in
Washington DC to improve our constitution, even if the states have to
agree with the changes. We have had one or more of these Convention
resolutions pass, but I helped kill others of them in the House
Judiciary and so they didn't even get sent to that committee.
Is the Federal Government out of control based on the US Constitution,
yes. Is this the way to fix it, putting our whole US Constitution at
stake to be re-written, No!
The info sent by the the group to me, that my opponent signed:
U.S. Term Limits Pledge
I, __________________________, pledge that as a member of the state legislature I will cosponsor, vote for, and defend the resolution applying for an Article V convention for the sole purpose of enacting term limits on Congress.
Sample Application Under Article V of the U.S. Constitution to Propose a Congressional
Term Limits Amendment
Section 1. The legislature of [INSERT STATE NAME] hereby makes an application to Congress, as provided by Article V of the Constitution of the United States of America, to call a convention limited to proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America to set a limit on the number of terms that a person may be elected as a Member of the United States House of Representatives and to set a limit on the number of terms that a person may be elected as a Member of the United States Senate.
Section 2. The Secretary of State is hereby directed to transmit copies of this application to the President and Secretary of the Senate of the United States and to the Speaker, Clerk and Judiciary Committee Chairman of the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, and copies to the members of the said Senate and House of Representatives from this State; also to transmit copies hereof to the presiding officers of each of the legislative houses in the several States, requesting their cooperation.
Section 3. This application shall be considered as covering the same subject matter as the applications from other States to Congress to call a convention to set a limit on the number of terms that a person may be elected to the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States and the Senate of the United States; and this application shall be aggregated with same for the purpose of attaining the two-thirds of states necessary to require Congress to call a limited convention on this subject, but shall not be aggregated with any other applications on any other subject.
Section 4. This application constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V of the Constitution of the United States of America until the legislatures of at least two-thirds of the several states have made applications on the same subject.
