WASHINGTON, D.C. (WTXL) — Florida's senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio have co-sponsored a bill that aims to set term limits on Congress.
On Monday, the two senators joined Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in the reintroduction of the proposed constitutional amendment that would allow Senators to serve only two terms and members of the House to only serve three terms.
Currently, members of the House have two-year terms, and Senators have six-year terms. Both can be re-elected an unlimited amount of times.
"The rise of political careerism in today’s Congress is a sharp departure from what the Founders intended for our federal governing bodies," said Sen. Cruz in a press release reintroducing the bill.
Joining Sen. Cruz in co-sponsoring the reintroduced bill are:
- Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.)
- Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
- Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.)
- Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.)
- Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.)
In the press release from Sen. Cruz's office, Florida Sen. Rick Scott made a statement regarding the bill:
“Washington is more dysfunctional than ever, and I’m fighting every day to make reforms in the best interest of American families. Career politicians are never going to make the tough choices needed to get our nation on a successful path. They care more about politics and their next election than the future of this country. That has to end now. We need to reimagine government and term limits are the right place to start.”
ABC 27 has reached out to Sen. Rubio's team for comment on the bill and is waiting to hear back.
Terms starting before the amendment’s ratification would not be counted in determining a candidate’s eligibility.
This marks the third time Sen. Cruz has introduced such a bill, other times being in 2017 and 2019, neither of them panning out.
For an amendment to pass, it must be approved by two-thirds of the House and Senate and then three-fourths of the states.
The closest congressional term limits have come to reality was when a similar resolution, that proposed two six-year terms for senators and six two-year terms for House members, was introduced by Florida Rep. Bill McCollum in 1995.
That bill failed to reach a two-thirds majority in the House in 1995, with a 227-204 vote.
