For immediate release
March 15, 2017
Contact: Ken Quinn, U.S. Term Limits
Phone: (207) 713-8700
kquinn@termlimits.com
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Term Limits (USTL), the leader in the national, nonpartisan movement to limit terms for elected officials is proud of the congressional term limit commitments it has received from state lawmakers in Maryland. This week, three more state house delegates signed the term limits convention pledge. Delegates Barrie Cilibriti, Andrew Cassilly, and William Wivell all committed to supporting a term limits constitutional amendment proposal through the states.
Previously, State House Delegates Tony McConkey, Mike McKay, Haven Shoemaker, and Sid Saab all signed the Term Limits Convention pledge. In addition to the support of pledge signers, Delegates Mike McKay, Afzali, Corderman, Folden, Kittleman, Malone, McComas, McDonough, Metzgar, Miele, Rose, Saab, Shoemaker, Vogt, and Wivell have cosponsored HJ4, the house joint resolution applying for a term limits amendment proposal convention. Despite the strong support, the resolution is stalled in the House Rules & Executive Nominations Committee and may die there if it is not brought to a vote.
USTL President, Philip Blumel, commented saying, “The tremendous support for term limits among Maryland lawmakers shows that there are legislators who are willing to listen to the majority of voters who want term limits. America needs a Congress that will be served by citizen legislators, not career politicians. It would be a shame if the leadership responsible for moving this bill along refuses to listen to the will of the residents of Maryland.”
The U.S. Term Limits Article V Pledge is provided to candidates and members of the state legislatures. It reads, “I pledge, that as a member of the state legislature, I will support and vote for the resolution applying for an Article V convention for the limited purpose of enacting term limits on Congress.”
In the 1995 case, Thornton v. U.S. Term Limits, the Supreme Court of the United States opined that only a Constitutional Amendment could limit the terms of U.S. Senators and House Representatives. According to Nick Tomboulides, Executive Director of USTL, the best chance of imposing term limits on congress is through an Article V Convention of state legislatures. “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 impose limits on itself, our goal is to trigger the latter, a term limits convention,” claims Tomboulides. “That is why it is important to get buy-in from state legislators,” he added. Once proposed, the amendment must be ratified by 38 states to be part of the Constitution.
Blumel noted, “More than 84% 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. These Maryland legislators know this and are willing to work to make sure we reach our goal.”
According to the last nationwide poll on term limits conducted by McLaughlin & Associates, conducted in January 2018, term limits enjoys wide bipartisan support. McLaughlin’s analysis states, “Support for term limits is broad and strong across all political, geographic and demographic groups. An overwhelming 82% of voters approve of a Constitutional Amendment that will place term limits on members of Congress.”
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U.S. Term Limits is the largest, grassroots term limits activist group in the country focused on imposing term limits on the U.S. Congress. Find out more about our non-partisan, non-profit organization at termlimits.org.