House Speaker Paul Ryan said he backs a proposal by President-elect Trump to impose term limits on members of Congress.
“I support term limits,” Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters Thursday. “I’ve long been in favor of term limits, since before I came here.”
Trump added a push for term limits late in his campaign, which often included criticism of House and Senate lawmakers. Trump is calling for a three-term limit for House lawmakers and a two-term limit for senators, which would limit their time in office to six and twelve years, respectively.
Ryan, who was just elected to a 10th term, did not say whether he would push a term limit bill, which would require amending the Constitution. Such a proposal would likely have a tough time winning the two-thirds support in Congress as well as the approval of two-thirds of the states.
Past efforts to impose term limits have failed. In the 1990s, a group of Republican lawmakers were elected after promising to only serve three terms. But most of them violated the pledge and ended up remaining in Congress much longer.
Trump, in an interview last week with 60 Minutes, appeared unfazed by the potential opposition on Capitol Hill.
“We’re going to put on term limits, which a lot of people aren’t happy about,” Trump said. “But we’re putting on term limits.”
