President Donald Trump on Monday said an effort by a bipartisan group of freshman lawmakers to institute congressional term limits has his "full support and endorsement."
"I recently had a terrific meeting with a bipartisan group of freshman lawmakers who feel very strongly in favor of Congressional term limits," Trump tweeted. "I gave them my full support and endorsement for their efforts. #DrainTheSwamp."
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/991028027785138177
Washington Post reporter Robert Costa sent out a tweet shortly after Trump with a contradicting account of what was discussed at the meeting, saying the term limits applied to "congressional staffers."
"[S]ources quite familiar w/ this meeting tell me that term limits for congressional *staffers* was discussed by some lawmakers," Costa tweeted. "But the idea was shelved when someone pointed out it wouldn't be best to make that a Constitutional amendment."
Contrary to Costa's claim, however, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R., Wis.) said last week he and a group of bipartisan representatives had in fact met with the president to "urge his support for a constitutional amendment limiting the number of terms Senators and Representatives may serve."
"Imposing term limits is one of first ‘Drain the Swamp’ measures I introduced in my first 100 days in office," Gallagher said, "and I appreciated the opportunity to discuss my resolution with President Trump. If we’re going to end the careerism that is infecting Washington, D.C., then implementing term limits and getting back to the citizen legislator model is a no-brainer."
Gallagher was joined at the meeting by Reps. Vincente Gonzalez (D., Texas), Jodey Arrington (R., Texas), Ro Khanna (D., Calif.), and Brian Fitzapatrick (R., Pa.).
Trump also voiced his support for congressional term limits in October 2016 at a rally in Colorado when he was running for president, according to the New York Times.
"The time for congressional term limits has finally arrived," Mr. Trump said, after promising to push for a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on congressional lawmakers. "Not only will it end our government corruption, but we will end the economic stagnation that we are in right now."
At a second rally in Colorado, Mr. Trump added specificity, saying he would limit House lawmakers to three terms, or six years, and senators to two terms, or 12 years.