(The Center Square) — Citing Florida as an example, Gov. Ron DeSantis urged Ohio lawmakers at a news conference in Columbus on Tuesday to pass a joint resolution calling for congressional term limits.
House Joint Resolution 3 would call for an Article V Convention of the States to “impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms of office for its officials and Members of Congress.”
DeSantis, a second-term GOP governor, recalled his three terms in D.C. in the U.S. House of Representatives as being instructive on why he supports congressional term limits.
“I always remind people that I’ve recovered from that experience, but that experience did leave a mark about how Washington works and how the incentives to do really good policy are just skewed away from that,” DeSantis said. “People get up there and basically they’re told, you got to pay your dues, you got to stay there and the seniority and the longevity, and people want that to be their career.
“We have members that have been there for 30, 40 years, including people like Nancy Pelosi. That is not, I think, how the Founding Fathers envisioned this.”
The measure is sponsored by Reps. Bernie Willis, R-Springfield, and Riordan McClain, R-Nevada, and is in the House Government Oversight Committee.
The resolution is similar to measures passed by 12 other states. According to the U.S. Constitution’s Article V, 34 state legislatures would have to pass similar resolutions before a convention could be called to possibly add them to the constitution if ratified by a majority of the states.
Rep. Heidi Workman, R-Rootstown, says a recent survey shows nearly 80% of Ohioans support term limits.
“Voters are tired of Washington politicians spending decades in office disconnected from the people they are represented or there’s they’re elected to serve,” Workman said. “They want change, and they’re looking for that change right now. The people are ahead of politicians on this issue. They see term limits not as a partisan agenda, but as a common sense reform that will restore trust and opportunity in our federal government.”
