Tim Burchett doubles down on his support for term limits

Amidst facial freezes and falls and across the decades, it's clear that the country's longest-serving lawmakers aren't stepping down.

And Knoxville's Tim Burchett isn't happy about politicians clinging to power.

Burchett, 59, the Republican from Knox County, has represented Tennessee's 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2019. He's been an adamant supporter of term limits dating back to his service in the Tennessee legislature beginning in 1995.

“I supported term limits when I was in the state legislature and I have supported bills to impose term limits ever since I came to Congress," Burchett said in an email to Knox News on Sept. 11.

In 2021, he introduced legislation to impose limits on members of both the House and Senate. House members would have been limited to serving three two-year terms, while senators would have been limited to two six-year terms. Burchett's bill would not have applied to lawmakers, including longtime leaders such as Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, whose terms began prior to when the bill would have passed.

He knew his colleagues wouldn't vote for a bill limiting their existing terms, he said in his email to Knox News, and he wasn't willing to term limit himself if his fellow lawmakers wouldn't, either.

Burchett's bill never made it to the House floor, and it faced steep odds even if it had. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1995 that a constitutional amendment is required to limit congressional terms, meaning any proposal in the House and Senate would require two-thirds of lawmakers to vote in favor of it, and then ratification by three-fourths of state legislatures or conventions called in each state.

Congressional term limits were first proposed in 1789, the same year the United States began governing itself under the U.S. Constitution's provisions.

Bill Lyons, director of policy partnerships at the University of Tennessee's Baker School of Public Policy, said the longevity of the debate shows the concept is still popular in some circles.

"I would say it's a long shot because the questions have been around for a long time," he said. "It's an age-old argument, ever since the founders. You'd have to have super majorities throughout the process and in ratification of an amendment. That would make (term limits) really hard to achieve."

Lyons said that while age and term limits are not directly tied together – candidates can serve in the House once they've turned 25 and the Senate once they're 30 – recent concerns about age with octogenarians running for reelection has refocused attention on term limits.

"This is a long-running discussion. It's not just tied to age, it's tied to other factors as well," he said.

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U.S. Term Limits, the organization that brought the 1995 case to the Supreme Court, supports turnover because the group says it would increase competitive elections, help get big money out of politics and diversify Congress.

The push for term limits is hot again because aging leaders plan to run again, such as Pelosi, 83, and because of medical problems like the ones experienced by McConnell, 81.

Pelosi served as speaker of the house 2007-2011 and again 2019-2023. Her second term as speaker was filled with controversy, enraging both members of her own party and the GOP.

In 2020, she faced pushback after the Democratic Party unexpectedly lost congressional seats. Burchett told Knox News at the time that she was to blame.

"It absolutely shook (Democrats),” he said in December 2020. “They completely and rightfully blame Pelosi.”

Twice this year, McConnell, the Senate minority leader, has frozen while speaking during press conferences. Some Democrats and Republicans have used the incidents to say McConnell should step down, and Burchett is no different.

“Yes, I think his family and staff should agree it’s time,” he told NBC News in August. “I think too often, these folks are more concerned about their future and not our country.”

During this year's congressional session, Burchett co-sponsored a constitutional amendment that would impose the same term limits as the 2021 legislation and also includes a grandfather clause for current lawmakers.

"I got a feeling we're getting ready to pass something (on term limits) in the House," Burchett said on an episode of his "Tennessee Talks" podcast Sept. 6.

However, he said, it wouldn't be viable in the Senate. "I'm pretty sure that it will die an untimely death in the Senate, and it will never see the light of day."

Allie Feinberg covers politics for Knox News. Email her at allie.feinberg@knoxnews.com.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tim Burchett doubles down on his support for Congress term limits