Rep. Alex Zimmerman Pledges to Support Congressional Term Limits

Research shows 87 percent of Americans favor limiting the number of terms that members of Congress are allowed to serve.

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INDIANAPOLIS - 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. Indianapolis State House Rep. Alex Zimmerman (District 67), has committed support for term limits on Congress by signing the term limits convention pledge.

USTL President, Philip Blumel, commented on Zimmerman's pledge saying, “Alex'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, Executive Director 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, our goal is to trigger the latter, a national convention specifically for a term limits amendment,” claims 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 percent 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. Alex knows this and is 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 percent who strongly favor this proposal, just 12 percent are opposed.”

View Zimmerman's signed pledge here.