Rep. Brian Burnett signs pledge supporting term limits in Congress

WENATCHEE — U.S. Term Limits (USTL), a non-partisan organization advocating for term limits for elected officials, is garnering support from some state legislators across the country. Their goal is to secure applications from 34 states for a constitutional amendment convention specifically focused on congressional term limits. Representative Brian Burnett (District 12) of the Washington State House has pledged his support for congressional term limits by signing the term limits convention pledge.

The USTL pledge says, in its entirety: “I pledge that, as a member of the state legislature, I will cosponsor, vote for, and defend the resolution applying for an Article V convention for the sole purpose of enacting term limits on Congress.”

In a 1995 case, Thornton v. U.S. Term Limits, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that only a Constitutional Amendment could restrict the terms of U.S. Senators and House Representatives. According to Nick Tomboulides, Chief Executive Officer of USTL, the most viable path to implementing term limits on Congress is through an Article V Proposal Convention of state legislatures.

The last time a Constitutional Amendment was proposed without an Article V proposal through the states was under the Republicans’ “Contract With America” proposal in 1995, under the leadership of Newt Gingrich. It fell far short of the two-thirds majority it needed to pass.

“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 take the high road and propose term limits on itself, we know they are too self-interested to do that without external pressure,” Tomboulides said. “That is why it is important to get buy-in from state legislators.” He emphasized that once proposed, the amendment requires ratification by 38 states. Fewer than half that number of states currently have term limit legislation on the books or under consideration.

Tomboulides goes on: “More than 87% 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. Brian knows this and is willing to work to make sure we reach our goal.”

According to a recent national poll on term limits conducted by Pew Research, term limits are widely supported across the political spectrum, though fewer Democrats support it than Republicans. The reasons for this vary, but largely, opposition to such an effort is rooted in a few arguments:

• Congress would essentially be permanently in a “lame duck” session. That’s when, toward the end of their term, outgoing members of Congress are less likely to vote. When they do vote, their decisions often diverge from the interests of their constituents or their party. Instead, these members are more inclined to vote in alignment with the desires of their future employers, who are frequently lobbyists or lobbying organizations.
  
  
• Bipartisan relationships in Congress are developed over time. Many members of opposing parties have found ways to work together, but only through years of friendship and the ability to understand one another’s position.
  
  
• Voters — and government in general — benefit from experienced lawmakers. There’s a large learning curve in the halls of Congress, and even lawmakers who support term limits have benefited from the wisdom and experience of those who came before them.
  
  
• America already has term limits: Voting. Nothing requires a voter to reelect their Senator or Representative, and that puts the power of term limits squarely in the hands of voters, where many believe it belongs

The phrase “term limits” can sound enticing because voters are tired of seeing legislation die in committee and countless government shutdowns and partisan gridlock that makes everything seem like government is inefficient at best. But largely, voters, when asked, all believe that whichever party they don’t belong to is the party that’s exploiting the lack of term limits.

That is to say, Democrats in Iowa may believe that 92-year-old Republican Chuck Grassley, who’s been in the Senate since 1981, has had long enough, despite having benefited from his experience there. Republicans in Maryland may feel just the same about Steny Hoyer, who was elected as a Democrat the same year as Grassley. None could claim that either man has been ineffective in their time as lawmakers, however.

When asked about that last point, voting being equivalent to term limits, Burnett has a different point of view:

“The argument that we ‘already have term limits by the fact we can vote them out of office’ is a straw man argument,” he says. “It’s ignoring the power of incumbency and the two-party system where all the money and endorsements go to one person from each party. There is no LEVEL playing field.”

He does understand the effect that building relationships can have, though. When it comes to answering how long is long enough in office, he says, “Obviously, the question is and always has been for me, ‘What is the right number?’ I don't know if I know the answer, but for Congress, I'm leaning to something around 16–20 years … you can't make it too short of a timeframe or those honest people holding office wouldn't have time to build relationships and accomplish both goals for themselves and their constituents.”

As for his own aspirations, he’s modest: “I don't ever want to become arrogant to the point that I think I'm the only one who can get the job done,” Burnett says. “I'm certainly not a career politician, just answering a call that leans on my past experience to help guide my future endeavors.”

At times controversially, Burnett previously served three terms and unsuccessfully ran for a fourth as Chelan County Sheriff before the office was taken over by current Sheriff Mike Morrison in 2022. Burnett was elected to the Washington State House in 2024 with more than 53% of the vote.

Whether an Article V proposal can pass muster to get the Constitution amended with term limits is unknown. But it’s something that, whether you support it or not, certainly at least deserves discussion due to its popularity.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media