posted December 02, 2012 06:38 PM            

The real deal???

FULL ANSWER

It’s true that New York Rep. Jose Serrano, a Democrat, introduced a bill (H.J.RES.5) on Jan. 6, when Congress opened, proposing the repeal of the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which limits presidents to two terms. Repealing that amendment would require ratification by three-fourths of the states.

The bill was referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties and is sitting there now. It has no cosponsors.

Serrano introduced or cosponsored the same proposal in 1997 and 1999, when Democrat Bill Clinton was president, and again in 2001 just days before Republican George Bush was sworn in for his first term. He also introduced it in 2003, 2005 and 2007, all before Barack Obama even announced he was running for president.

All of these bills died in committee without ever coming to a vote. None of Serrano’s bills attracted any cosponsors, except for the 1997 and 1999 versions, each of which was cosponsored by Rep. Chris Shays of Connecticut, a Republican.

Furthermore, when we asked Rep. Serrano about this, he stated in an e-mail message to us that the White House was not supporting his measure or offering him any advice about it.