WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-08) led a bipartisan group of freshmen members of Congress today in a meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, in a full-court press for a constitutional amendment imposing term limits on all members of Congress. The group included Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Jodey Arrington (R-TX), Vincente Gonzalez (D-TX).

Following the meeting, Fitzpatrick released the following statement:

“Today, I led my bipartisan freshman colleagues in a meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office to discuss the absolute necessity of legislative terms limits.  We must end the cycle of career politicians once and for all; we must return the People’s House to the People.  We need to return to a citizen legislature, and I will not stop fighting until term limits are achieved.   President Trump understands this important issue and has agreed to support our push for term limits. 

I made clear to the President that, as a former FBI Special Agent who oversaw the FBI’s Political Corruption Unit for the entire nation, I witnessed firsthand an undeniable correlation between the length of time in office and the instances of corruption. The lines that were very bright for elected officials on day one in office were not so bright in year seven or eight, and even less so in years 15 or 20.

It is my firm belief that, with the support of the President and our bipartisan group of freshman members, we can address this “root issue” of systemic corruption once and for all, and we can make a real, lasting change to business as usual in Washington. We owe this to the American people.  The time is now to get this done.”

Fitzpatrick, one of the leading advocates for government reform in Congress, introduced a package of anti-corruption measures on his first day that included three Constitutional amendments and one bill aimed at fixing Washington’s broken system:

• Term Limits for Members of Congress (Constitutional amdt.)
  • Limits members of the House of Representatives and Senate to 12 years of service total
• No Budget, No Pay (Constitutional amdt.)
  • Prevents members of Congress from being paid unless a budget is passed.  Goes further than previous iterations of No Budget, No Pay by docking pay for time without a budget as opposed to simply putting member salaries in escrow until end of term.
• Balanced Budget Amendment (Constitutional amdt.)
  • Requires Congress to adopt a budget that balances like most states, including Pennsylvania, and municipalities
• Citizen Legislature Anti-Corruption Reform (CLEAN) Act (H.R)
  • Ends Congressional “pensions for life” and directs members toward standard 401K retirement savings accounts
  • Requires Congress to act on single-issue legislation
  • Codifies that all laws passed by Congress must apply to its members
  • Reforms the broken “Gerrymandering” process by moving all redistricting to independent, non-partisan commissions
  • Allows access to political party primaries for Independents or non-affiliated voters

“If we learned anything from the American people in the last election, it is that they are sick and tired of politics as usual and they are demanding we change the broken culture in Washington,” said Congressman Jodey Arrington (R-TX). “I am grateful to my friend, Brian Fitzpatrick, who made a career of rooting out corruption as an FBI agent, for leading this bipartisan effort to change the D.C. culture by enacting term limits. I look forward to joining Brian in making this game-changing reform a reality.”