DeSantis, Florida Legislature Call For Constitutional Amendments, Including Term Limits

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a Concerned Women fo
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Hannah Knudsen

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday said he is working with the Florida legislature to push for four constitutional amendments under Article V.

DeSantis said during his initial remarks that we see “time and time again” what happens when the political class is put first and the American people are put last. That is why they are pushing four amendments to the Constitution.

“First, we are certifying for amendment: Term limits for members of Congress,” he said to applause.

“We have it in Florida. You know what? It works in Florida, because people have a limited amount of time. Their incentives are to make a difference, not to stay in office for 30 or 40 years, and so being able to do that — Congress will never do it itself,” he said, explaining that this change will only come through the states.

“We have the ability through the states to impose that on Congress, and that’s going to make a big, big difference. You should go serve for a limited amount of time and then live under the laws that should pass. I think people would probably approach things a little bit different,” he predicted.

“Second reform is a requirement for a balanced budget at the federal level,” DeSantis said, once again noting that this is something that already exists in his state.

“Most states have balanced budget requirements. There’s no reason why the federal government should not as well,” he pressed.

“Third thing is you should give the president what I have as governor and what many governors have — a line item veto. If they put a massive spending bill on the president’s desk, you should be able to veto individual line items. Just think how much pork you would be able to veto out of there,” DeSantis said, explaining that “hundreds of billions of dollars” could be saved “just by giving that line item veto.”

“And finally, we want an amendment that says very simply that Congress shall make no law respecting the citizens of the United States that does not also apply to members of Congress themselves. They should not be able to exempt themselves,” he said to applause.

“They should not be able to function as a separate ruling class,” the governor said, explaining that these proposals are not partisan in nature, either.

“It’s not Republican, Democrat, independent. I mean … if you ask people, should there be term limits for Congress, you get support across the board — Republican, Democrat, independent, male, female, black, white. It doesn’t matter. People believe that you should have term limits,” he said, explaining that people also support the idea of a balanced budget as well as laws applying to members of Congress as well.

“It’s using the tools that the Founding Fathers gave us to be able to reclaim this government for We the People,” he said, adding, “These are the types of reforms I think the Founding Fathers would have looked kindly on.”

“They recognize that States needed to be able to make these proposals because there was going to be times when the nation’s capital was not going to be willing to reform itself,” he added.

WATCH:

Indeed, states do have the power to amend the Constitution, as whitehouse.gov acknowledges:

An amendment may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress, or, if two-thirds of the States request one, by a convention called for that purpose. The amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of the State legislatures, or three-fourths of conventions called in each State for ratification. In modern times, amendments have traditionally specified a time frame in which this must be accomplished, usually a period of several years. Additionally, the Constitution specifies that no amendment can deny a State equal representation in the Senate without that State’s consent.

In another video posted Monday, DeSantis reiterated that Washington is not going to reform itself.

“Proud to announce that I am working with the FL Legislature to certify the following four constitutional amendments under Article V: 1. Term limits 2. Balanced budget requirement 3. Line-item veto and 4. Requirement that all laws apply to members of Congress w/o exemptions,” he wrote:

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Ron DeSantis / Twitter

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