We couldn’t have better news coming out of the Bayou State. We have passed, and the Louisiana House couldn’t be more excited. Hi, I’m Holly Robichaud, and this is Breaking News on Term Limits.
We have phenomenal news from the Pelican State. The State House has passed our resolution applying for congressional amendment for term limits. Louisiana joins the growing roster of states that have passed our resolution calling for term limits on Congress. We wanna thank our sponsors: Senator Mark Abraham, Representative Mark Wright, and the Louisianians who took action to make this happen. Way to go, Louisiana.
Did you know that US Term Limits is the largest non-partisan, non-profit organization advocating solely for term limits? Our mission is to improve the quality of government with a citizen’s legislature that closely reflects its constituency and is responsive to the needs of the people it serves. The US Term Limits pledge is not a self-limit on individuals. Our aim is to limit the terms of all members of congress as an entire institution. To find out more, go to termlimits.org.
State legislative candidates across the nation are getting the message that voters want congressional term limits. An additional 88 2024 state legislative candidates have signed our pledge over the past two weeks. All of this is due to our outstanding pledge team. They’ve been working overtime to get every candidate they can on board for supporting congressional term limits. Way to go, pledge team.
Many Americans believe that our Congress is too old, and they’ve got good reason. In the Senate, there are 60 members who are age 60 or older, and 15 of those 60 are 75 years or older, making this congress one of the oldest in our history. Yet despite being well over the retirement age, many are still seeking to be reinstated next term. This week, 82-year-old Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, announced that he’s seeking re-election for another six years. Everyday term limits continues to become more and more of a necessity. And in the United States House, it’s much of the same.
As you may recall, we interviewed Jared Hendricks, who is chairing Retire Congress North Dakota, which is seeking to pass a state constitutional amendment on the June 11th primary that would prohibit anyone 80 years or older from serving in Congress from North Dakota. The initiative got some great news this week. A new RMG research poll showed that 78% of North Dakotans intend to vote for the amendment. And an even more eye-opening find is that 47% of North Dakota voters who were not intending a vote would be more likely to vote because of this amendment.
Term Limits has another victory. Indiana had its state primaries on May 7th, and United State Senator Mike Braun, who signed The US Term Limits Pledge, has won the gubernatorial primary for the Republicans. In state legislative races in Indiana, 64 of our pledge signers either outright won or advanced to the general election. There are still a handful of races to be called, but we expect our numbers to increase.
In Georgia, the State House got a new Term Limits supporter. Carmen Rice won the special election for State House District 139. Rice signed the US Term Limits Pledge to support our resolution for congressional term limits in the Georgia State House. Over the past two weeks, we saw an additional 10 congressional candidates sign our US Term Limits Pledge. With the record number of congressional candidates signing our pledge for the 2024 election cycle, we’re gonna hit our highest number ever by election day.
Texas Representative Henry Cuellar was indicted by the US Department of Justice, along with his wife. He was indicted for taking bribes and acting as a foreign agent. Representative Cuellar and his wife allegedly took $600,000 in bribes, and both were released on $100,000 bond. Representative Cuellar was elected in 2004, and as you may have guessed, he has never supported congressional term limits.
And now it’s time for the Corrupt Politician of the Week, and I’m going back to Texas. It is Texas Representative Michael Burgess. First elected in 2002, Representative Burgess announced that he’s not seeking re-election after reports of possible insider trading has surfaced. The New York Times reported that he and his wife had eight transactions with companies that he oversaw on the House Energy and Commerce sub-committees. Several were sales of options that gave the owner the right to buy medical technologies company, Stryker, at a set price in the future.
See, how many more insider trading deals do I have to tell you about? Every week, it breaks my heart to report to you about all the insider trading in the Corrupt Politician of the Week. We need term limits. It can become a reality, but we need your help. Please go to termlimits.org and get involved today, and be sure to share this program with your friends and family every time we post. This is Holly Robichaud for Term Limits Breaking News. I’ll see you soon.