Montana State Representative Stacy Zinn has signed a pledge to support congressional term limits, according to U.S. Term Limits (USTL), an organization advocating for limits on the tenure of elected officials. Zinn, who represents district 52 in the Montana House, joins other state lawmakers nationwide backing an initiative that seeks to have 34 states call for a convention focused on proposing a constitutional amendment imposing term limits on Congress.
The pledge, distributed by USTL to candidates and state legislators, states: “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.”
A 1995 Supreme Court decision determined that only a constitutional amendment could establish such limits. Nick Tomboulides, CEO of USTL, said: “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, we know they are too self-interested to do that without external pressure.” He added: “That is why it is important to get buy-in from state legislators. Once proposed, the amendment must be ratified by 38 states.”
Tomboulides also noted broad public support for congressional term limits: “More than 87% 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. Stacy knows this and is willing to work to make sure we reach our goal.”
Recent polling data from Pew Research indicates bipartisan support for limiting terms in Congress. According to Pew’s analysis: “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% who strongly favor this proposal, just 12% are opposed.”
U.S. Term Limits describes itself as a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated solely to advancing term limit policies at all levels of government.
