Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) have introduced joint resolutions in the Senate and House respectively, calling for congressional term limits.
“With the evident abuse of power that has taken place in Congress, the notion of term limits is basic common sense,” Norman said in an emailed statement.
However, terms that began before the amendment’s ratification are not counted towards the total number. This has relevance for Cruz, who began a third term in the Senate this year.
“The Founding Fathers envisioned a government of citizen legislators who would serve for a few years and return home, not a government run by a small group of special interests and lifelong, permanently entrenched politicians who prey upon the brokenness of Washington to govern in a manner that is totally unaccountable to the American people,” Cruz said.
The action currently has support in both chambers of Congress—11 senators and 29 members of the House—but it is no small feat to amend the U.S. Constitution.
The amendment will require support from two-thirds of the House and of the Senate and agreement by three-fourths of states to be ratified.
Cruz and Norman have repeatedly introduced term limits during their time in Congress.
Norman’s House version was also voted down 17–19 in the House Judiciary Committee that same year.
The vote was not entirely along party lines.
Four Republicans—Reps. Harriet Hageman (Wyo.), Darrell Issa (Calif.), Tom McClintock (Calif.), and Scott Fitzgerald (Wis.)—sided with Democrats to kill the bill.
At that time, Hageman told Fox News that she felt forcing term limits denied voters a choice.
“We already have term limits, although we call them elections, and in the House, we have them every two years,” she said.
“You only have to look at the seat that I currently hold for the people of Wyoming to see that if voters are dissatisfied, they can always change horses.”
She also said that long-term member experience may prove important during political battles with the other side of the aisle.
The record for longest term in Congress goes to Michigan Democrat John Dingell, who served 59 years in the House of Representatives. Current Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have also held onto their seats for decades. Grassley was elected in 1980 and McConnell in 1985.
McConnell stepped down as leader of the Senate Republicans at the end of 2024 and has not yet publicly ruled out a 2026 run.
