Sunday, October 21, 2012

Pants on Fire # 13: Ryan Wants Term Limits

The Lie: Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), who is running for vice-president of the U.S. with former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA/MI/UT), says he favors term limits for Members of Congress. In fact, he said recently, “I’ve always supported that. I’ve always believed that this should be something that you serve temporary, not for an entire lifetime … I co-sponsored that when I was in Congress." (Note to Mr. Ryan: You are still in Congress.)

The Truth: Ryan has served seven terms as a congressman. He has said he supports a constitutional amendment to set term limits, but he has not done more than that. Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez writes, “A search of the THOMAS legislative database shows that since Ryan entered Congress in January 1999, at least 16 House measures have been introduced proposing such a constitutional amendment. Ryan does not appear as a sponsor or co-sponsor of any of the 16 measures," according to Salon.com.

Ryan is running to continue his congressional career at the same time that he is running for the vice-presidency.

His opponent in the congressional race is Rob Zerban, a Democrat, who has said he thinks Ryan should drop out of the race "any day now."



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