With the federal government in its 23rd day of a shutdown, Republicans and Democrats remain far apart on how to end the stalemate. But one idea is drawing bipartisan support — congressional term limits.
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Maryland Democratic Rep. David Trone joined forces on an opinion piece in the New York Times calling for new limits on how long lawmakers can serve.
"Greater turnover would mean more politicians invested in the interests of their constituents — and the nation as a whole — over those of entrenched and influential advocacy groups," DeSantis and Trone wrote. "It would go a long way toward restoring trust in our political institutions and reducing the influence of money in our elections."
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Nick Tomboulides, CEO of the advocacy group U.S. Term Limits, told Scripps News he is pushing for “a three-term limit in the House and a two-term limit in the Senate.”
“We think that would be striking the right balance in terms of getting some experience while also allowing for, you know, a regular inflow of new faces, new ideas in Washington D.C.,” Tomboulides said.
He argued that Congress is failing at its basic responsibilities, including keeping the government open.
“The one thing that we know is the system is broken,” Tomboulides said. “We've got Congress, it's pretty dominated by career politicians, many of whom have been in office for decades — 20, 30 years — and they can't even do their most basic responsibilities. They can't even pass a budget to keep the government open. I mean, it's like having a lifeguard who can't swim.”
Applying the proposed limits to the current Senate would make 46 senators ineligible for re-election. Tomboulides said that’s a good thing.
“I'll quote what Ronald Reagan said: The only experience you get in politics is how to be political,” he said. “We have people in Washington for decades and decades, they just become more entrenched. They don't become better at their jobs.”
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Tomboulides said entrenched incumbents also have a fundraising advantage.
“There is a very corrosive relationship between money and incumbency,” he said. “The special interests, the PACs, the lobbyists, they give about $10 to incumbents for every $1 they give challengers. It makes it almost impossible for outsiders to compete and get elected to Congress.”
Tomboulides believes term limits would create more open-seat races, reducing the advantage of incumbents and attracting candidates from varied backgrounds.
“Term limits is just the basic idea that we want open seats, we want new blood, we want new ideas,” he said.
Watch Scripps News' full interview with Nick Tomboulides, CEO of U.S. Term Limits, in the video player above.