By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Thursday, October 20, 2016, US Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Mobile) said on Facebook that he supports term limits.
Congressman Byrne said, “There has been a lot of talk lately about term limits, and I wanted to make my position on the issue clear. I have always been a supporter of term limits, and I am a co-sponsor of a bill in Congress to limit House and Senate members to no more than 12 years of service. It is important all our elected officials understand their position does not belong to them but to the people they represent. This is the way I have always viewed my seat in Congress.”
Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that he, too, is supporting term limits.
The New York City businessman and reality television star said, “If I’m elected president I will push for a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress.”
Under Trump’s plan, members of the House could serve only three terms and members of the Senate could serve only two terms.
The advocacy group US Term Limits has advocated for term limits for years and term limits are one of the areas addressed by the Convention of States (COS) effort. US Term Limits said in a statement that the measure, “Is part of a national movement led by US Term Limits to fight careerism in Washington.”
The President of US Term Limits, Philip Blumel said “Seventy-five percent of Americans support term limits on Congress, including huge majorities of Democrats, Republicans and Independents.”
During the 2016 legislative session, State Representative Kerry Rich (R-Albertville) introduced a measure calling for an Article V constitutional convention solely to pass term limits on Congress. In 1992 Florida passed a term limits referendum with 77 percent of the vote. That vote on Amendment 9 imposed term limits on federal and state officials but, in 1995, the US Supreme Court ruled that states could not enact congressional term limits by ballot measure. Thus congressional term limits can only be enacted by amendment to the US Constitution. The Alabama Legislature does not have any term limits, though Senator Trip Pittman (R-Montrose) introduced legislation during the 2016 regular session to impose term limits on the Alabama legislature as well.
Critics of term limits argue that there is less collegiality, less experience, and more partisanship in a legislature without long serving members.
Congressman Bradley Byrne represents Alabama’s First Congressional District.
