Skip to main content
Representative Jake LaTurner logo

OPED: We Need Congressional Term Limits

February 2, 2021
Editorial

I understand that I was sent to Washington to fulfill my promises and serve the needs of my constituents.  In recognition of that, I moved swiftly to co-sponsor a Constitutional Amendment that imposes term limits on all members of Congress.

Washington, D.C., has increasingly become a place where politicians arrive with the sole objective of permanently staying in power. 

The American people are fed up with this status quo.

It turns out that when members of Congress spend every waking moment of their term consumed with their own re-election prospects, the concerns of Americans fall by the wayside. As a result, all we are left with is unsolved problems and a $27 trillion national debt (and counting!)

It is time for a major reform to the system. Thankfully, the Framers devised a brilliant method to modify our Constitution, granting us the ability to implement term limits through the amendment process.

In fact, we have already amended our Constitution to impose term limits on the office of the President. The 22nd Amendment imposed a two-term limit on the presidency as a check on executive power in government. The same logic should be applied to Congress.

The bill I co-sponsored proposes an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to limit the number of terms that a Member of Congress may serve. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives would be limited to three two-year terms of service. Members of the U.S. Senate would be limited to two six-year terms of service.

Congressional term limits will provide the Legislature with new people who have fresh ideas and are strictly focused on serving the interests of their constituents during their short time in Congress.

If we are serious about draining the swamp in Washington, term limits should be one of our top priorities.

###

Read the op-ed in the Atchison Daily Globe here

Issues:Term Limits