Which members of Congress have sponsored proposed constitutional amendments to impose term limits since 2015?
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Executive summary
A small but visible group of federal lawmakers has repeatedly sponsored or reintroduced proposed constitutional amendments to impose term limits on members of Congress since 2015, led publicly by Senator Ted Cruz (R‑TX) and Representative Ralph Norman (R‑SC), with more recent additions including Senator Katie Britt (R‑AL) and Representative Rob Bressan/Bresnahan (PA‑08) joining versions filed in the 118th and 119th Congresses [1] [2] [3] [4]. Advocacy groups such as U.S. Term Limits have amplified and coordinated sponsorship signals, but full tallies of all cosponsors vary by resolution and Congress and are not comprehensively listed in the supplied reporting [5] [6] [7].
1. The persistent lead sponsors: Cruz and Norman — the public face of repeat filings
Senator Ted Cruz has been the most consistent Senate sponsor of a congressional‑term‑limits amendment in recent years, repeatedly introducing versions in multiple Congresses (noted filings in 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023 and press materials describing his continued sponsorship) and pairing with Representative Ralph Norman in House introductions [1] [2]. Norman is named repeatedly alongside Cruz in official Senate and House press releases describing joint introductions and quotes promoting the amendment [2]. Those two figures are the clearest, repeatedly documented sponsors in the supplied reporting.
2. Newer Senate and House cosponsors documented in 2025 filings
The 2025 reintroduction of a term‑limits amendment shows additional congressional sponsors: Senator Katie Britt joined Cruz and “ten of their Senate Republican colleagues” to reintroduce the amendment in January 2025, and Representative Rob Bresnahan publicly announced cosponsorship of H.J.Res.12 in April 2025, demonstrating that the sponsorship coalition has expanded beyond the initial duo [3] [4]. The Senate release lists the numeric breadth of Republican Senate backers but the supplied sources do not provide the full list of the ten named senators by name [3].
3. Organizational players and the sponsorship ecosystem
Private advocacy groups such as U.S. Term Limits have actively pushed Congress to file amendments and identify or endorse sponsors on Capitol Hill, publicly naming Representative Ralph Norman and Senator Ted Cruz as sponsors of the USTL amendment and promoting legislative strategies to obtain a two‑thirds congressional majority or a state‑led convention path [5]. That external pressure helps explain repeated reintroductions and public pledges, and it frames sponsorship as both a legislative act and a political signal to voters and donor bases [5].
4. Legal reality and political math constrain sponsorship impact
Legal scholars and constitutional commentators emphasize that only a constitutional amendment can impose congressional term limits after the 1995 Supreme Court ruling, which focuses the fight in Congress and among states rather than in courts [8]. Despite public polling showing broad support for term limits, institutional reality matters: a two‑thirds vote in both chambers or ratification by three‑quarters of the states is required, and as of mid‑2023 only a minority of members had pledged support, leaving sponsors far short of the supermajority threshold needed to make their filings dispositive [8] [9].
5. What the sources do — and do not — allow this reporting to conclude
The supplied reporting documents specific, named sponsors (Sen. Ted Cruz, Rep. Ralph Norman), documents additional named cosponsors in 2025 (Sen. Katie Britt; Rep. Rob Bresnahan) and describes continued filings and hearings, but it does not provide a complete roll call of every member who cosponsored every proposed amendment since 2015, nor a full list of the “ten” Republican senators referenced in the 2025 press release [1] [2] [3] [4]. Therefore the authoritative, evidence‑based answer is: Cruz and Norman are the long‑standing lead sponsors; Britt and Bresnahan are documented cosponsors in the most recent 2025 reintroductions; advocacy groups like U.S. Term Limits are active sponsors in practice; and other senators are described generically in press materials but not named in the provided sources [1] [2] [3] [5].