by Philip Blumel
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Term Limits (USTL), the leader in the national movement to limit terms for elected officials, today praised libertarian presidential candidates Governor Gary Johnson and Governor Bill Weld for pledging, if elected, to support a constitutional amendment for term limits on members of Congress.
With Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio out of the race, Johnson-Weld is now the only presidential campaign to have made this commitment to the 75 percent of Americans who back term limits.
USTL President Philip Blumel commented on the pledge, saying, “We applaud Gary Johnson and Bill Weld for making congressional term limits a central issue of their campaign. Their support for term limits shows they are committed to preventing career politicians and restoring the founders’ idea of a citizen legislature.”
The U.S. Term Limits Amendment Pledge reads, “I, as a candidate for President of the United States, pledge to support congressional passage and state ratification of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would set term limits on service in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House as there are term limits on the President, as enacted by the 22nd amendment.”
The Supreme Court ruled in the 1995 case U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton that congressional term limits can only be achieved by constitutional amendment. While the President does not have a vote nor a veto in this process, his is an important pulpit that can be used to get the amendment passed.
Both Johnson and Weld have track records of support for term limits. Johnson has called the reform “a silver bullet.” He has said “if term limits are in effect, politicians will do the right thing as opposed to whatever it takes to get re-elected.”
As governor of Massachusetts, Weld served as national co-chairman of U.S. Term Limits and honored his promise to not seek a third term as governor.
According to the last nationwide poll on term limits conducted by Gallup, the issue enjoys wide bi-partisan support. The poll showed that 75% of Americans support congressional term limits.
Gallup’s analysis states, “Republicans and independents are slightly more likely than Democrats to favor term limits; nevertheless, the vast majority of all party groups agree on the issue. Further, Gallup finds no generational differences in support for the proposal.”
Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have turned down the term limits pledge, despite it having support from a vast majority of Americans.
View Gary Johnson and Bill Weld’s signed term limits pledges by clicking HERE.
Philip Blumel is the President of U.S. Term Limits.