Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to limit the number of consecutive terms that a Member of Congress may serve.
This joint resolution proposes a constitutional amendment to limit consecutive terms for Members of Congress. If ratified, it would set two consecutive Senate terms as the maximum and five consecutive House terms as the maximum. After reaching those limits, a Member would be ineligible to be elected or appointed to the same chamber for one year following the end of the last consecutive term. The measure also specifies how certain vacancies and pre-ratification terms are to be treated for determining consecutive-term counts. The amendment would take effect only if three-fourths of the states ratify it within seven years of its submission. The sponsor is listed as Mr. Magaziner, and the proposal follows the standard constitutional-amendment route (two-thirds of both Houses proposing, three-fourths of states ratifying).
Key Points
- 1Section 1: A Senator may not be elected or appointed to the Senate again until one year after the end of their second consecutive term.
- 2Section 2: A Representative may not be elected or appointed to the House again until one year after the end of their fifth consecutive term.
- 3Section 3: For counting consecutive terms, terms served to fill a vacancy are excluded unless the vacancy lasts more than three years for a Senator or more than one year for a Representative.
- 4Section 4: Any term begun before ratification does not count toward the tally of consecutive terms for purposes of the amendment.
- 5Ratification process: The amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of the states within seven years after its submission for ratification to become part of the Constitution; it requires two-thirds approval in both the Senate and the House to be proposed.