Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) on Thursday introduced a resolution reaffirming the House of Representatives’ support for the 22nd Amendment, which states that a person can be elected president no more than two times.
The resolution — which comes amid talk of a possible third term for President Trump — makes explicit that the 22nd Amendment applies to Trump, too.
“Resolved, That the House of Representatives (1) reaffirms that the Twenty-second Amendment applies to two terms in the aggregate as President of the United States; and (2) reaffirms that the Twenty-second Amendment prohibits President Trump from running for President for another term,” the resolution reads.
The resolution mentions several instances, from March 2018 through just last week, when Trump has hinted at the possibility of running for a third term in office.
“President Donald Trump’s repeated references to serving beyond his second term have unsurprisingly now become standard GOP orthodoxy,” Goldman said in a press release.
“The 22nd Amendment enshrines a fundamental principle of our democracy—no president can serve for more than two terms. Yet, one political party has prioritized blind loyalty to a wannabe dictator over its duty to uphold our constitution,” he continued.
The president has on multiple occasions floated the idea of running for a third term since he won a second in November, including twice during meetings with House Republicans.
Last Thursday, Trump raised the idea of his seeking a third term, drawing loud approval from supporters at a Black History Month event.
“Should I run again? You tell me?” Trump asked the crowd assembled in the East Room of the White House. They cheered, and he added, “There’s your controversy right there.”
Trump is only the second U.S. president in history, after former President Cleveland, to serve nonconsecutive terms.
Most presidents followed former President Washington’s tradition of not running for more than two terms. A few attempted a third term, but none were successful until former President Franklin Roosevelt won four terms amid the crises of the Great Depression and World War II.
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) has introduced a constitutional amendment that would specifically allow Trump to run for another term but not any of his two-term predecessors. The proposal has virtually no chance of passing through Congress.
