Philip Blumel: Can 2023 be the breakout year for Congressional Term Limits? Hi, I’m Philip Blumel. Welcome to No Uncertain Terms, the official podcast of the Term Limits Movement for the week of February 6th, 2023.
Speaker 2: Your sanctuary from partisan politics.
Philip Blumel: Well, why not 2023. News is coming fast and furious as the legislative sessions of both the US Congress and the state legislatures are getting underway. The potential game changer of this year is of course the commitment from House speaker Kevin McCarthy that there will be a vote on the US Term Limits Amendment in 2023 in the US House. The bill has been introduced in the US House, of course as HJR11 by sponsor, representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina. The big news this week is that the US Term Limits Amendment has been introduced in the US Senate as well as SJR2 by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. This is the official Term Limits Amendment that’s introduced each year. The terms are three two-year terms in the House and two six-year terms in the Senate and this is the one that conforms to the pledge that has been signed by so many members of the US Congress.
Philip Blumel: Now, we’ve been bragging on Representative Norman on this podcast for his work in the House and of course for securing that McCarthy commitment, which was largely his doing. But Senator Cruz has been a strong sponsor in the past and will again be this year. Now remember it was Cruz that held the first hearings on congressional term limits in the US Senate in a generation. You will recall that our own Nick Tomboulides Executive Director of US Term Limits testified before that committee in the US Senate. And that video has gone viral on YouTube and has been viewed by millions. So, the bills are in again this year and a vote is promised. But now let’s get real. Is it possible the US House will pass congressional term limits on themselves? Now, before we answer that question, let’s look back to the heady days of the early 1990s when congressional term limits got several votes in the house because back in 1995 the House of Representatives voted 227 to 204 in favor of a constitutional amendment limiting its own terms, and those of US senators. It was an amendment bill. That’s 52%.
Philip Blumel: All right, so we have had majority votes in the US House on the US term limits constitutional amendment in the past. Now the problem is that this bill didn’t pass in the nineties because even though while it did receive a majority, we have to have two thirds of a vote in order to pass a constitutional amendment through a House of Congress. However, the votes did prove, I would say definitively that if they get enough pressure from citizens like you, members of Congress will indeed vote to limit their own power. Not enough of them yet, but a lot of ’em will. Now consider, there’s about 130 members of the House and Senate together, and that’s a record, that have signed the US term limits pledge to co-sponsor and vote for this particular bill. Okay, so there’s already a bunch of votes already in the bag for this and consider the polling.
Philip Blumel: It’s more than 80% and it’s all parties as you well know. And we have Norman and his team roaming the halls of Congress, knocking on doors and recruiting sponsors and reminding of course those who signed the petition that they’ve gotta take the next step now and get on the bill as a co-sponsor. And soon they’ll be reminding him that these folks actually pledged to vote for the amendment. And on the Democratic side of the aisle, Maine representative Jared Golden has been knocking on those doors. In fact, it’s worth noting that Jared Golden was quoted in the press this week as saying that, “The House was never intended as, at its inception to be a place where someone served for 30 years. Mainers voted in support of term limits in large part because they don’t believe elected office should be a long-term career. Instead, they want fresh ideas and new leadership. Term limits will go a long way towards delivering those ideas and leadership in Washington.” That’s the Democratic representative in the US Congress knocking on Democratic doors.
Philip Blumel: That rhetoric is really indistinguishable from what we hear from Ralph Norman who is a Republican who is the sponsor of the bill. You can see that on this issue like no other, it is a bipartisan issue embraced by the people and even in the Congress of the minority that are supporting it and working for it, the rhetoric is the same. So is it really impossible that 287 house members that would be two thirds might vote yes when historically 227 have. There was a lot of pressure in the ’90s for these guys to vote “yes”, by the way. There was a lot of focus on this issue in the media and everything else. Lots of polling was being done. There were lots of activities just like there is today.
Philip Blumel: And so they were under a lot of pressure to do it and 227 did. Not enough. So the question I think is really not whether it’s possible, of course it’s possible, the question is how much pressure do we have to put on Congress to make them feel compelled to vote yes? For that margin to vote yes. Now keep in mind the US Term Limits Movement has something that we did not have on our side back in 1995, and that is the Term Limits Convention project because if we’re talking about pressure on Congress, we might be talking about newspaper editorials. We might be talking about citizens writing letters. We might be talking about emails being received by legislators. We might be talking about some media ganging up on hypocritical members of Congress on this issue and things like that. And all of this matters.
Philip Blumel: We might have a presidential candidate pushing the issue and we might have some movement in the Supreme Court on this issue. There might be all these things that are focusing pressure on Congress and we’ve always had these, what we have right now that we didn’t have in the past is the Term Limits Convention project. Well, why does that matter? Well, think about this. Under Article 5 of the US Constitution, if two thirds of the states call for an amendment writing convention limited to the subject, congressional term limits, it shall be called. Shall is the quote from the Constitution. It doesn’t say maybe if Congress feels like it, they’ll be, the states will meet in the convention. If the enough states call for it, the convention shall be held no matter what Congress has to say about it. All right? Now, four [CORRECTION: FIVE] states have already made this call and there’s more on the way.
Philip Blumel: About 10 states so far this year have already introduced the bill. This is Jan. Well, it’s February, what is it? February 6th. In one month, 10 states have introduced this bill into their legislatures and are considering it. Two states are already at the stage where they’re having their first committee hearings and votes on the issue of the term limits convention. How about that? So is this something that can push Congress over the edge? Yes. Yes it can. It has. This is what gives us so much confidence at US Term Limits that this strategy can be successful because it’s happened before. Remember, US senators at one time were elected by state legislatures rather than directly by the people, right? There were problems with that. And the solution that the Congress came up with is controversial and we’re not going into that here. I’m not arguing, making that case right here.
Philip Blumel: But what I’m suggesting to you is this, is that there were problems with the indirect election of senators and there became a wide consensus across parties in this country that needed to be fixed. Now, the elections were working fine in the House, that in the House, House members were traditionally elected directly by the voters and that was working fine. So the idea was that there should be some provision for direct election of US senators. Now guess what group in America was absolutely totally opposed to this idea. US Senators. Well, yeah, because all of them had been appointed by their state legislatures rather than elected directly. And if there was a change in the system, presumably every single one of them would be voted out, conceivably. So they had an absolute, call it a class interest, in voting against the idea or not even listening or not even considering the idea of direct election of senators.
Philip Blumel: Very similar to what Congress faces today with term limits. It’s against their own self-interests and that’s why they don’t want to touch it. Well, the US House back then, and we’re talking about the early 1900s, right in the US house, there was a couple votes on amendments allowing direct election of Senators that passed. It just couldn’t get anywhere in the Senate. The Senate, you couldn’t get a hearing on it. Well, what started happening is that state after state started passing resolutions in their state legislatures calling for a amendment writing convention limited to the subject of direct election of senators. 28 states passed resolutions calling for a convention limited to the subject of direct election of senators. Do you think that put pressure on Senate to act? Yes, we know it did because guess what? The Senate, once they saw the writing on the wall, once they saw they’re getting close to the requisite two thirds of the states required to call a convention, the Senate saw the writing on the wall and passed the bill themselves.
Philip Blumel: Of course, they passed the bill themselves because if it was going to happen anyway, they wanted to be the ones that wrote it. They didn’t want to hand it off to a bunch of state legislators in convention that would be looking at the US Senator’s jobs when they wrote the amendment. Is this gonna happen in the US Congress? It certainly can. We expect it to. Why wouldn’t it happen? If you had great pressure from all these avenues on the US Congress, including 80% of the people, if you saw that a convention of the states was coming, that was imminent, that was going to certainly happen if the US Congress did not take action itself, you can bet that the US Congress will take action. It’ll be in their self-interest to do so at that point.
Philip Blumel: That’s the model. That’s our strategy. Take action. Please help us. We need you right now. This is the year. Go to… There’s two things I want you to do right now. Go to termlimits.com/takeaction. You hear this over and over from us. There’s a reason. Right on that page, it’ll show all the states where the bills have been introduced in the state legislatures calling for the term limits convention. If your state is on that list, click on take action. It’s gonna tell you what to do. It’s easy. It’ll take you two minutes. We’re gonna ask you to send an email to your legislator or to the relevant committee members or whatever’s the most relevant action in your state. Everything will be looked up for you easy. Go to termlimits.com/takeaction. Second it’s February. Yeah, February. And that means Term Limits Day. February 27th is Term Limits Day.
Philip Blumel: This is an opportunity for citizens across the country to make some public show of support for this idea. Is it more important this year than it ever has been before? Yes. We’re gonna have a vote in the US house this year. Your local representatives and their staff and your neighbors and the media and everybody else needs to know that people out there are watching and that they care about this. So celebrate Term limits Day, February 27th. How do you do that? Well, there’s a lot of different ideas. First, you might wanna visit termlimits.com/store where there’s items there you can use to show your support. My favorite personally is I have a sign in my garage that says Happy Term Limits Day, February 27th and has the termlimits.com. I take the sign out and I put it on my front lawn and I encourage my neighbors to do so.
Philip Blumel: Simple thing, you need one of these signs. Go to termlimits.com/store, buy a sign that says Happy Term limits Day, put it out on your yard and then on February 28th, you can put it back into your garage till next year and we’ll remind you to put it out again. That’s an easy one. Yeah, maybe that’s… The yard sign’s not your style. We have bumper stickers. We have a T-shirt you can wear around that day. We have a lapel pin that you can put on your suit jacket on that day. There’s some way that you can walk around and participate in life in the United States leading up to February 27th Term Limits Day that you can show people that you support this issue. Super important. Please do it. Of course, as Term Limits Day approaches, send your social media messages out there. Happy Term Limits Day February 27th. Let everybody know, give a link to ustermlimits.com. Show support for term limits.
Philip Blumel: Next up, let’s have some breaking term limits news from Holly Robichaud. Holly, you might know her. She’s been managing US Term Limits National State Chair program, and she’s helped recruit some two dozen political leaders and influencers to represent US term limits in nearly half the states. A really top-shelf group of people that is representing us well across the country. And she recently launched a weekly new show called Breaking News on YouTube as another way to educate the public about the progress of the Term Limits Movement. So for previous episodes, go to youtube.com/ustermlimits, no punctuation in that, youtube.com/ustermlimits. And well, here’s Holly with some breaking news for the week.
Speaker 2: This is a public service announcement.
Holly Robichaud: Don’t forget February 27th is National Term limits Day. Remember, that’s the day that commemorates the ratification of the 22nd Amendment in 1951 that imposes term limits on the president of the United States. If it’s good enough for the president, then it’s good enough for Congress. Don’t you agree? We need your help. So don’t forget to call your representatives and call your senators and ask them to support term limits. It’s time to take back our country. We’re pleased with the progress we’re making in the states. In Tennessee, Arizona, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and South Dakota, legislation has been filed. In Ohio, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Maine, and Indiana, we’re getting ready to drop the legislation. This week’s poster child for why we need term limits is gonna be Congresswoman Lori Trahan. When she first ran for office, she deposited at the last moment a huge sum of money into her campaign account.
Holly Robichaud: The only problem was, is that she didn’t have the personal funds to do that. Trahan got caught and had to spend $400,000 on legal advice because her husband shifted assets to fund her campaign. In that campaign, she promised to support term limits and she’s broken that promise. That’s why we’ve launched billboards in her district to hold her accountable and let her constituents know that she doesn’t keep her promises. Now it’s time for the term limits Hall of Shame. US Representative Young Kim of California signed the US term limits pledge when running for office. Her support for term limits was critical to her narrow 2022 election victory. And guess what? Now that she’s won, she’s broken the pledge and is not supporting the US term limits amendment. Shame on her. We’re running billboards in her district right now, letting her constituents know that she has broken her pledge. That’s not acceptable. Let her know. Congressional term limits can become a reality, but we can’t do it without you. Go to termlimits.org to find out how you can help in your state. Sign up to join our volunteer list and be sure to like US Term Limits Breaking News and invite your friends to watch us. This is Holly Robichaud with us Term Limits Breaking News and we’ll be back to you next week.
Philip Blumel: By the way, due in part to Holly’s efforts, US term limits has a new state co-chair in Arizona that was just announced just last week. This new state co-chair, Diego Rodriguez will help state chair Kelly Townsend shepherd the newly introduced term limits convention bill through the Arizona legislature. Diego Rodriguez is an attorney. He served as Deputy County attorney in Pima County. He’s co-founder of an organization called the Institute for Equity and Justice. And as a Democrat, he’ll be working with the Republican Kelly Townsend to pass the Term Limits Convention Resolution on behalf of all Arizonians.
Philip Blumel: Next. Trouble brewing in Nebraska. Nebraska is one of the 15 states with term limits on its legislature. Did I say 15? [laughter] I’m used to saying 15. 16 because North Dakota passed term limits under this legislature just last November, eight year term limits passed overwhelmingly. You bet the term limits movement has a momentum right now. Don’t underestimate us in 2023.
Philip Blumel: Anyway term limits is just as popular as ever in Nebraska like anywhere else. However, a wannabe career politician, Senator Robert Dover of Norfolk has proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow lawmakers to serve a third consecutive four-year-term instead of the current two-term limits that the voters approved back in 2000. This proposal, it’s LR22CA, for those who are counting, from Senator Robert Dover of Norfolk. It appears to have support of senators from both sides of the political aisle and looks like it has enough votes to get it on the ballot. At least get through legislature, to put it on the ballot for the general election. Now, Dover is a newbie. He was appointed to fill a legislative seat vacated by Representative Mike Flood last summer. And he was, I guess, convinced to carry water for this thing.
Philip Blumel: And he told the Lincoln General Star that the idea merged from discussions with legislative staff lobbyists as well as current and former senators. [laughter] Notably, the citizens were not included in that list. At least he’s honest. Well, the citizens of course, polling shows in like term limits, approve of term limits at a higher percentage than the 54… 56%, I’m sorry, that approved term limits back in 2000 the first time around. Well, we’ll see. But citizens in Nebraska are already on the move to protect their term limits law. The word has gotten out. A postcard was sent to voters this month, courtesy of the Liberty Initiative Fund, which is an activist outfit run by term limits hero Paul Jacob. For those of us who’ve been around for a while, we owe a lot to this gentleman. And once again, he’s stepping up to the plate, so he is letting Nebraska voters know and then already US term limits has registered a lobbyist that is ready for the fight. Robert Dover said he was surprised to see that a campaign was launched so early against his anti term limits amendment, which he only introduced on January 13. Well, don’t be Representative Dover. The term limits movement is on fire. Do not underestimate us in 2023.
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Philip Blumel: Thanks for joining us for another episode of No Uncertain Terms. The Term Limits Convention bills are moving through the state legislatures. This could be a breakthrough year for the Term Limits movement. To check on the status of the term limits convention resolution in your state, go to termlimits.com/takeaction. There you will see if it has been introduced and where it stands in the committee process on its way to the floor vote. If there’s action to take, you’ll see a take action button by your state. Click it. This will give you the opportunity to send a message to the most relevant legislators, urging them to support the legislation. They have to know you are watching. That’s termlimits.com/takeaction. If your state has already passed the Term Limits Convention resolution, or the bill has not been introduced in your state, you can still help. Please consider making a contribution to US Term Limits. It is our aim to hit the reset button on the US Congress and you can help. Go to termlimits.com/donate, termlimits.com/donate. Thanks. We’ll be back next week.
Stacey Selleck: The revolution isn’t being televised. Fortunately. You have the No Uncertain Terms Podcast.
Speaker 2: USTL.