THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Why else would the Republicans in Congress once again be brining up the idea of term limits for members. The last time they were for them was the last time the GOP was in the minority.

Holding, a Raleigh Republican, filed a resolution last week seeking a constitutional amendment limiting the terms of representatives and senators to 12 years in each chamber. Holding’s resolution is one of at least nine filed by Republicans in the first weeks of the new Congress hoping to alter the constitution to restrict the terms of representatives and senators.

“The problem here that we’re trying to address is folks don’t have a limited horizon. They don’t have a deadline. If you watch Washington, things are always done on a deadline. Whether it’s a cliff or expiration date, that’s when things get done,” Holding said in an interview with The News & Observer. “That would keep people focused and it would remove the folks who’ve kind of lost track and are more about staying in office rather than about being effective.”

Critics contend that term limits, especially short ones, could give unelected people on the Hill — like lobbyists and staff members — more power than elected officials. But they are popular among the public. A February 2018 poll found that 82 percent of Americans back term limits for Congress.

With public approval of Congress hovering near 20 percent and a partial government shutdown now the longest in history, lawmakers can easily back popular term limits — especially given the long odds that any proposal makes it through the amendment process.

The Constitution was last amended in 1992 (deferring congressional pay changes until the next Congress) and before that 1971 (setting the voting age at 18).

Holding’s bill, like most of the others, would not be retroactive, meaning any member’s service time would begin after the amendment was ratified.

Reps. Mark Meadows, Ted Budd and Richard Hudson are co-sponsors for Rep. Francis Rooney’s term limits measure in the House. It calls for a maximum of three terms in the House and two terms in the Senate.

Sen. Thom Tillis is one of seven co-sponsors on Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s proposal to limit representatives to three two-year terms and senators to two six-year terms.

“It is past time for members of Congress to amend the Constitution and impose long-needed term limits on its members,” Tillis said in a statement.

While the proposals vary in specifics — one calls for four terms in the House, one calls for 12 years total in Congress, one would just give Congress the power to set term limits without a specific number — they share a common goal: limiting the time people can serve in D.C.

The idea may have some merits but you need only look at who supports it, Mango Mussolini, The Fuck America Caucus leaders and Teh Cuban Canuck, to know that it is ultimately a very bad idea.