Opinion

Legislature has chance to push congressional term limits

Gov. Greg Abbott has done more than any other chief executive in America to draw attention to the heavy-handedness of Washington. He has changed the debate around the Article V convention from a question of if it will happen to when it will happen. His Texas Plan is less an experiment than a blueprint for action. less Gov. Greg Abbott has done more than any other chief executive in America to draw attention to the heavy-handedness of Washington. He has changed the debate around the Article V convention from a question of if ... more Photo: Tony Gutierrez /Associated Press Photo: Tony Gutierrez /Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Legislature has chance to push congressional term limits 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Americans have long dreamed of enacting term limits on members of Congress. The window of opportunity to do it has come open, but it will stay that way only if Texas takes action.

In early 2016, Gov. Greg Abbott unveiled his Texas Plan, a way for states to convene a convention to restore the Constitution. Abbott’s strategy — found in Article V of the Constitution — allows state legislatures to bypass Congress and obtain amendments that politicians in Washington won’t support. Once 34 state legislatures pass resolutions for a convention on the same topic, they can get together to propose an amendment in that subject area.

Shortly after he developed the Texas Plan, Abbott praised congressional term limits, saying “we need disrupters in D.C. focused on reform not re-election.”

The public couldn’t agree more. According to a recent Gallup poll, 75 percent of people support congressional term limits, including 82 percent of Republicans, 79 percent of independents and 65 percent of Democrats. That makes term limits the most popular and bipartisan issue in America.

It is clear, however, that career politicians in Congress won’t listen to the people and vote for limits on their own power. Abbott’s end run around Washington is the only means of getting it done, and we applaud him for his courage on this issue.

That’s why we have taken the first steps and crafted legislation the Texas Legislature can pass right now to let states take our Congress back. It’s a simple one-page resolution expressing the will of Texas to join a convention among states, with the sole purpose of limiting terms of U.S. congressmen and senators.

There are several reasons why this resolution needs to be passed immediately.

First, congressional tenure and dysfunction have reached all-time highs and we cannot afford to wait any longer for solutions. Each election cycle, members of Congress get what they want: re-election in big numbers. Ninety-five percent of incumbent congressmen on the ballot are returned to office. Some have been in Washington for 30, 40 and even 50 years.

But our country never gets the results we deserve. Congress has piled $20 trillion in debt onto the citizens of tomorrow because re-election depends on the special interests of today. Health care and education remain a mess because politicians lack the courage to buck the status quo.

Only by returning to a government of citizen legislators can we begin to address these problems.

The politics of Texas are another reason we must act now. Gov. Abbott has done more than any other chief executive in America to draw attention to the heavy-handedness of Washington. He has changed the debate around the Article V convention from a question of if it will happen, to when it will happen. His Texas Plan is less an experiment than a blueprint for action. We must capitalize on that momentum before it has a chance to slow down. Texans need to see progress in this fight to be convinced it is the right way.

A term limits convention is not the only convention worth having. Some very smart people have developed resolutions pushing for a balanced budget amendment, fiscal restraints on Washington, and other elements found in the Texas Plan. The Convention of States Project has even bundled these items with term limits in a super-resolution of sorts.

If Texas wants to remain the national leader on constitutional reform, it needs to pass all the Article V resolutions consistent with limited government principles. That way, it has the ability to integrate with whichever approach reaches 34 states first. Stand-alone term limits on Congress are a crucial piece of that puzzle.

Phil Blumel is president of U.S. Term Limits, a national organization with a Texas chapter focused on enacting congressional term limits.