House Speaker Paul Ryan stopped short of saying he would pass legislation to make such a change. | AP Photo Ryan backs Trump's term-limits pitch

Paul Ryan on Thursday said he supports Donald Trump’s call for term limits on lawmakers — but the House speaker stopped short of committing to passing such a bill.

“I’ve always supported term limits,” the Wisconsin Republican said. “I’ve long been a fan of term limits. I don’t know where other members stand, but I’ve always been in favor of that.”


As part of his "drain the swamp" mantra, Trump in mid-October floated a pitch to enact a constitutional amendment capping House members to three terms, or six years in office, and senators to two terms, or 12 years.

“The time for congressional term limits has finally arrived,” Trump said at one of his rallies. “Not only will it end our government corruption, but we will end the economic stagnation that we are in right now.”

Ryan, however, stopped short of saying he would seek to pass legislation to make such a change, adding that he’d “leave it up to others to decide that” and pointing specifically to the House Judiciary Committee.

Ryan also deferred when asked whether Trump could or should hire his son-in-law Jared Kushner to serve in the White House, which could violate nepotism laws that bar presidents from naming family members to top jobs in their administration.

Kushner "was a very good integral part of the campaign. He’s obviously a brilliant young man that Donald trump trusts, so I’ll leave it up to the Trump transition team as to decide what role he plays,” Ryan said, later adding: “I don’t have a deep understanding of how they work.”