Freedom Caucus Defies GOP Leaders, Introduces Term Limit Bill!
by Joe Otto
President Trump ran on a promise to impose term limits on Congress. Right after the inauguration, Ted Cruz introduced a Constitutional amendment to limit how long someone can serve in Congress. The Republican and Democrat establishments have been able to block Cruz's resolution from coming to the floor because it was introduced as a Constitutional amendment. Now, a Congressman from Florida thinks he's found a work-around...
Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL) just introduced the Thomas Jefferson Public Service Act of 2018. What makes this bill different is that it could impose term limits without needing to amend the Constitution (which is incredibly difficult).
Rooney's genius proposal would slash Congressional pay to just one dollar for any Congressman or Senator who serves for longer than 12 years. While it wouldn't prohibit someone from serving longer, it would completely cut their pay if they stay too long.
The bill is named after Thomas Jefferson because Jefferson specifically wanted the citizen legislators. Serving in Congress was never supposed to be a career. Today, most Members of Congress -- in both the House and Senate -- are millionaires.
Some, like Rep. Darrel Issa (R-CA), earned their millions in the private sector. Others have gotten rich off of their offices. Either way, the idea of "public servants" staying in office for decades and earning millions is disgusting.
This bill would end all of that.
The Thomas Jefferson Public Service Act of 2018 goes one step further. Not only would it cut Congressional pay to one dollar, but it would also implement a retirement cut-off. Even if a Congressman or Senator wanted to "serve" more than 12 years, they wouldn't have a massive payday waiting for them when they retire. As I mentioned, Ted Cruz has been pushing for this issue since day one of the Trump Presidency. The biggest hurdle for that was that his resolution was drafted as a Constitutional amendment. That would require two-thirds of both the House and the Senate to agree. But Rep. Rooney's bill is not a constitutional amendment. It would be passed as a basic law. And because this has to do with Congressional pay, it can be attached to any spending bill just like the leadership does to approve pay raises.
All of a sudden, imposing term limits isn't such a longshot...
Donald Trump ran on a campaign promise to “Drain the Swamp.” One of his proposals was instituting term limits in Congress. This is how we do it. We can debate about how long we think those limits should be. But in order for that to happen, the leadership needs to schedule the vote. For the last year, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan were able to block term limits from coming up by blaming the Democrats. Since a constitutional amendment needs a 2/3 vote, they never bothered to schedule it.
In their minds, there is nothing wrong with a "public servant" holding an office for more than three decades and becoming rich off it. That is the way the Establishment wants Congress to work. What new ideas could anyone possibly have after 30 years? People don’t run for re-election 5 times in order to serve their constituents. They do so in order to serve themselves.
The Freedom Caucus is taking this up and pressuring the GOP leadership for a vote. Since it is being introduced as a bill, and not a Constitutional amendment, it needs just a simple majority to pass. That is what Francis Rooney's bill is all about: restoring the United States Congress to a service model, not one centered on personal-enrichment.
We now have our bill to enshrine term limits into law. This is within our grasp. Those Congressmen and Senators who have made a fortune off of their "service," like Mitch McConnell, will fight us tooth and nail to hold onto their power. They will fail. It is up to us to make sure they fail.
We are closer than ever to dismantling Washington DC's permanent political class...