Wednesday, June 15, 2005

George W. Bush vs Bill Clinton in 2008?

A bill before Congress proposes repealing the 22nd Amendment. That's the one limiting Presidential terms, passed back in 1951:

Amendment XXII

Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.



The text of the bill repealing the 22nd Amendment is pretty simple:

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the 22nd amendment to the Constitution.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:

`Article --

`The twenty-second article of amendment to the Constitution of the
United States is repealed.'.



The bill, House Joint Resolution 24 is sponsored by Rep Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Rep Howard Berman (D-CA), Rep Frank Pallone, Jr (D-NJ), Rep Martin Sabo (D-MN) and Rep James Sensenbrenner (R-WI).

It's most sweeping effect -- would be to allow Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to engage in a steel-cage, barb-wire, grudge match with winner-take-all-stakes in some future election. (Thomas, Library of Congress) [Crossposted at BlogCritics.org]

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