Legislature passes term limits on Congress resolution

The Oklahoma Senate has passed HJR1032, a resolution applying for a national convention to propose term limits on Congress with a vote of 31 yeas and 11 nays.

The application is officially heading to Congress to be counted towards the 34 state applications required to call a term limits convention. The effort was sponsored by Oklahoma state Senator Micheal Bergstrom and state House Representative Jon Echols. This success is part of a national, nonpartisan movement led by U.S. Term Limits to fight careerism in Washington, D.C.

“I am so thrilled that Oklahoma has joined the growing list of states supporting congressional term limits. This vote shows that Oklahoma is committed to ending the stranglehold of career politicians who always put their politics ahead of people. We are now one step closer to restoring the dream of our founding fathers of a citizen legislature,” Oklahoma State Chair David Hill said on the victory.

“Today is an amazing day. Oklahoma has made history and has continued Senator Coburn’s legacy,” U.S. Term Limits Oklahoma State Director Chris Keener said.

“With the passage of the resolution, Oklahoma takes the lead in bringing term limits to the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate,” Oklahoma State Senator resolution sponsor, Micheal Bergstrom, said. “The vast majority of Oklahomans support term limits so that entrenched power brokers can be sent packing. It’s a great pleasure to have helped move this forward.”

Article V of the U.S. Constitution provides states the authority to impose term limits on Congress without congressional approval. For the term limits amendment convention to be called, 34 states must pass similar resolutions. Once a term limits amendment is proposed, it must be ratified by 38 states for it to be added to the U.S. Constitution. This process allows the states to completely bypass Congress.

The President of U.S. Term Limits, Philip Blumel, said, “Eighty-two percent of Americans support term limits on Congress, including huge majorities of Democrats, Republicans and Independents. This is a rare, truly nonpartisan issue with national appeal.”

HJR1032 was supported by both Democrats and Republicans and passed easily through both chambers of the Oklahoma state legislature.

“Senator Bergstrom and House Rep. Echols have been an integral part of the victory in Oklahoma. Their efforts helped put Oklahoma at the forefront of states calling for term limits on Congress,” Blumel added. “The progress has laid the groundwork for future successes.”