MUSCATINE, IOWA — Sen. Bernie Sanders said he opposed setting term limits for members of Congress and reiterated his support for public funding of elections as a mechanism to challenge incumbents.
His remarks came after an audience question asking if the Vermont senator would sponsor a bill forcing incumbent lawmakers to retire after a set number of election cycles.
“No, because term limits are basically undemocratic. You got term limits right now, and that is throw out the people you don’t like. What happens if you have someone you like?” Sanders said. “I think term limits are undemocratic because people won’t be able to vote for people they like.”
Instead, Sanders, 77, said overturning Citizens United and signing a bill that allows public funding for congressional elections would allow the average person to run for office without being beholden by special interests.
Sanders, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2016 against Hillary Clinton, previously suggested that he would back a modified effort to create term limits for Supreme Court judges.
“What may make sense is, if not term limits, then rotating judges to the appeals court as well,” Sanders said at the We the People Summit on April 1. “Letting them get out of the Supreme Court and bringing in new blood.”
Sanders has served in Congress since 1990, where he first served as a representative for Vermont’s second district. He was elected to the Senate as an Independent in 2006 and is serving his third term.
Sanders has long been skeptical of term limits, in 1995 he spoke on the House floor against a proposal that would force lawmakers to retire after six years.
“The problem with American politics is not that we can’t force out every member of Congress after six years,” Sanders said.
Sanders has served in Congress since the early 1990s.
