Garrett Bascom Pledges to Support Congressional Term Limits

U.S. Term Limits hopes to get 34 states to apply for an amendment proposal convention specific to term limits on Congress.

(Rising Sun, Ind.) - U.S. Term Limits (USTL), the leader in the national, non-partisan movement to limit terms for elected officials, is gathering support from state lawmakers across the nation. Its mission is to get 34 states to apply for an amendment proposal convention specific to term limits on Congress. Indiana state house candidate, Garrett Bascom (district 68), has committed support for term limits on Congress by signing the term limits convention pledge. Previously, candidate Lisa Barker also signed the pledge.

USTL President, Philip Blumel, commented on Bascom's and Barker's pledges saying, "Garrett's and Lisa's strong support of term limits shows that there are individuals who are willing to listen to the majority of voters who want term limits. America needs a Congress that will be served by citizen legislators, not career politicians.”

The U.S. Term Limits pledge is provided to candidates and members of state legislatures. It reads, “I pledge that, as a member of the state legislature, I will cosponsor, vote for, and defend the resolution applying for an Article V convention for the sole purpose of enacting term limits on Congress.”

In the 1995 case, Thornton v. U.S. Term Limits, the Supreme Court of the United States opined that only a constitutional amendment could limit the terms of U.S. Senators and House Representatives. According to Nick Tomboulides, Chief Executive Officer of USTL, the best chance of imposing term limits on Congress is through an Article V Proposal Convention of state legislatures.

“The Constitution allows for amendments to be proposed by either 2/3 of Congress or 2/3 of the states. While we’d like for Congress to take the high road and propose term limits on itself, we know they are too self-interested to do that without external pressure.” said Tomboulides. “That is why it is important to get buy-in from state legislators,” he added. Once proposed, the amendment must be ratified by 38 states.”

Tomboulides noted, “More than 87% of Americans have rejected the career politician model and want to replace it with citizen leadership. The way to achieve that goal is through a congressional term limits amendment. Garrett and Lisa know this and are willing to work to make sure we reach our goal.”

According to the latest nationwide poll on term limits conducted by Pew Research, term limits enjoy wide bipartisan support. Pew's analysis states, “An overwhelming majority of adults (87%) favor limiting the number of terms that members of Congress are allowed to serve. This includes a majority 56% who strongly favor this proposal, just 12% are opposed.”