![Paul Ryan](http://www.termlimits.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/paul-ryan-300x236.jpg)
by Nick Tomboulides
Once in a while, a senior member of the governing class in Washington will let slip that, yes, term limits are great but…only on offices other than their own.
Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI), the 2012 GOP candidate for vice president, told the Washington Examiner Monday that “term limits are fantastic.” He was referring to term limits for committee leaders, a group that counts him as Chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.
Ryan hasn’t always held such a glowing view of term limits. When he was set to be termed out as chair of the Budget Committee in 2012, he requested and was granted a special waiver from John Boehner to exempt himself from the six-year limit. No one bothered asking Ryan or Boehner: Of what use are term limits if privileged members don’t have to live by them?
Ryan did praise term limits for the reform’s ability to “get talent churning through the system,” while not making the connection that Congress itself could use an infusion of talent from dynamic citizens.
There’s no shortage of ways for Ryan to join the ranks of term limits supporters in Congress. He can co-sponsor Rep. Matt Salmon’s bill HJ RES 14, also known as the U.S. Term Limits Amendment. Or he can sign onto Rep. Ron DeSantis’ new legislation to gradually phase-in solid term limits.
A major reason the American people support term limits is that we’re sick and tired of Congress imposing rules on others that they aren’t personally willing to follow. When Ryan won a waiver from term limits, he proved that even the most anti-Washington issue isn’t immune to this problem.
Contact Paul Ryan’s office today at (202) 225-3031 to ask him, “Since you believe term limits are ‘fantastic,’ will you co-sponsor a bill to enact them on all of Congress via constitutional amendment?”
Nick Tomboulides is the Executive Director of U.S. Term Limits