Support for Congressional Term Limits continues to grow House joint Resolution 11 now has 98 co-sponsors. Representative Frank Lewis of Oklahoma is the latest co-sponsor, and we expect more to join any day. Hello, I’m Holly Robichaud, and this is Breaking News on Term Limits.
Now for our state update. Primary elections were held in New Jersey on June 6th for the State legislature, and seven term limits pledge signers won their primaries. Virginia is another state where there’ll be elections for the state legislature. So far 21 legislative candidates have signed our pledge. Mississippi also holds legislative elections this year, and our state chair Ron Eller has 51 pledge signers so far. In May there were two special legislative elections. In Florida, Ryan Chamberlin, a U.S. Term Limits pledge signer was elected to the Florida State House. And in Kentucky, Greg Elkins, a strong term limit supporter, won his state senate seat. Congratulations.
The political outrage of the week. In 2020, Claudia Tenney of New York was seeking to recapture the house seat that she had lost in 2018. She signed the U.S. Term Limits pledge and was an outspoken supporter. In fact, her support for our term limits amendment played a major role in her narrow victory. In 2022 after redistricting, she ran and won a tough primary, once again advocating for congressional term limits. So, you’d think she was one of our strongest supporters of the term limits amendment, right? Wrong. This past February Tenney, filed House Joint Resolution 32, which would create a six-term limit on members of the House. Tenney’s proposal is double the limit she pledged when signing the U.S. Term Limits pledge. It would allow members of Congress to stay in power twice as long.
Remember, Tenney signed our pledge that supports no longer than three terms. So, she’s guilty, guilty, guilty, of a bait and switch, and she was hoping no one would notice. However, one group did notice the Super PAC, Term Limits Action spotted Tenney’s shell game and purchased TV ads calling her out on breaking her word to her voters. Tenney published an angry response. She stated, “My pledge to you, the voters is the same now as it was the first day when I ran. I will fight for and support any term limits bill that is considered.” Her statement is unequivocally false. Tenney promised that she would support no longer than three terms for House members. This distinction is huge. Term limits is a remedy for a broken Congress that is rotting from the disease of compliancy and corruption.
But if the limits aren’t strong enough, like medicine that comes in too weak, the disease will never be cured. That’s why U.S. Term Limits pledge, which Tenney signed binds members to three House terms and no longer. It’s designed to stop career politicians like Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell from setting a limit so long that it turns out to be ineffectual. In the 30 years history of U.S. Term Limits, Claudia Tenney is the most egregious offender of the U.S. Term Limits pledge. We’re calling on Claudia Tenney to apologize to her constituents and keep her pledge.
As you know, every February 27th we celebrate National Term Limits Day, when the 22nd Amendment was ratified, limiting a president to two terms in office. It was worded to exempt the incumbent Harry S. Truman. But Truman believed presidents should only serve two terms, so he declined to run again in 1952. He also favored term limits in Congress. Presidential candidates of both parties have been talking about the need for congressional term limits. Former governor Chris Christie was the latest to advocate for congressional term limits. That’s why we’re asking presidential candidates of both parties to sign our U.S. Term Limits Presidential Pledge. The pledge states that if a candidate is elected president, he or she will support passage of the U.S. Term Limits amendment of three House terms, two Senate terms and no longer, and will work to secure state ratification of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, Nikki Haley was the first to sign the pledge. We’re working to have all the presidential candidates of both parties sign right away. We’re urging Fox News at their first Republican presidential debate to ask each of the candidates if they will support the U.S. Term Limits Presidential Pledge. We’ll be updating you as we get more information.
Chris Christie: “Look, I’m all for term limits. I was for term limits when I was governor. We have a guy in the state legislature in New Jersey who’s been there 50 years now, 50. My point is, if you haven’t gotten it done in 50 years, maybe it’s just time to go home. And nobody is indispensable enough. Nobody. And the proof for that is in my state, I know we don’t have them here, but in my state, the governor has term limits. I had two terms. We have a two term limits for our president. I think there should be term limits for everybody. I think the term limits should be for the folks in the House. They get six terms, 12 years. And for the folks in the Senate, they get two terms, 12 years. If you go to Washington for 12 years and you can’t get done what you wanna get done, which is four more years than any president will get, it’s time to go home.”
Holly Robichaud: I’m for it. If a piece of legislation came to my desk, I would sign it as fast as it got there. In the middle of the night if it got there, wake me up and let me sign it. Whatever I needed to do. And if there was a constitutional amendment put forward, I would go out and campaign for it. So, I think it’s important to do because I do think people are there too long. And look, if you want just one example of it right now, look at Dianne Feinstein from California. Now I’ve known her for a long time, and when she first came, even though I didn’t agree with much of what she was for, she was a smart, active, tough United States Senator for California. They’re pushing her around in a wheelchair now, and she was out, not able to vote, not able to speak, not able to analyze for months. People shouldn’t stay that long.
Speaking of presidential candidates, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum entered the presidential contest on the Republican side. Burgum has been ambivalent at best about the very concept of term limits. In North Dakota, Jared Hendrix led the effort for term limits to get an amendment for legislative term limits on the ballot, in 2022. It passed overwhelmingly, yet Burgum was missing in action when entrenched interest in career politicians tried to keep the amendment off the ballot. Then there was state legislators led by scandal-scarred Jim Kasper tried to undo the people’s vote by extending legislative terms. But Burgum was again silent, so it left it all up to Jared Hendrix to fight the good fight, and he won. We hope Burgum has learned his lesson. So, we invite him to sign the U.S. Term Limits Presidential Pledge, and we also extend him an invitation to appear on this broadcast to defend what he’s done.
Many people see career politicians as something that started in the late 1970s, but nothing could be further from the truth. Joseph Cannon, who the Cannon House Office Building is named after, served in the United States House from 1873 to 1923, with only four years out of office during that period. Think of it, he was first elected when Ulysses S. Grant was president, and then left office when Warren G. Harding was president. He’s not alone. There’s Emanuel Celler from New York, who was elected to the United States House in 1922 when Harding was president and was finally defeated in 1972 when Richard Nixon was president. Then there’s Richard Russell, who the Russell Office Building is named after. He was first elected to the United States Senate from Georgia in 1933 and served until 1971. After his election in 1933, he never faced a competitive election again. What has changed is that people like you are watching this broadcast and are fed up with career politicians’ special interests, and making term limits has become a major issue, and we can make it a reality.
Now it’s time for the Corrupt Politician of the Week. This week we’re calling out Arizona representative Ruben Gallego. Gallego is no supporter of term limits and was elected to the house in 2015 and is now seeking a promotion to the Senate. He claims both Washington DC and Arizona as his primary residence. That’s right, he’s got two of them. When he first bought his house near Capitol Hill last year, he claimed the Washington property as his primary residence as part of a special mortgage rate afforded to military veterans. But he and his wife also say their home in Phoenix is their primary residence. According to the terms, Gallego was given a $940,000 VA guaranteed loan in a mortgage market where interest rates are surging. Gallego qualifies for the VA loan due to his service in the Marines. The DC home loan comes after 11 months after Gallego and his wife refinanced their Phoenix home, so they know they’ve got both of them. Can we say sweetheart deal? I don’t know. Yet, it is another reason why we need term limits on congressional members.
Congressional term limits can become a reality, but we need your help. Please go to termlimits.com and get involved today, and make sure to share this program with your friends every week. This is Holly Robichaud, and I’ll be back to you next week with more breaking news on term limits.