Congress has known Americans want term limits for 50 years and done nothing about it.
A Texas congressman just found the one move they never saw coming.
What he found in the rulebook has Schuck Schumer's name all over it.
Chip Roy Bill Would Cut Congressional Pay After 12 Years
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, introduced the Statutory Term Limits on Congressional Pay & Power Act this week – and the mechanic is ruthlessly simple.
No constitutional amendment required.
Under Roy's bill, any member of Congress who surpasses 12 cumulative years of service loses their taxpayer-funded salary, their benefits, and every leadership position they hold.
They can stay. They just become volunteers.
"For too long, Washington has rewarded longevity with greater power, higher pay, and deeper entrenchment," Roy said. "If members of Congress want to serve beyond 12 years absent a constitutional amendment limiting them, they should do so without taxpayer-funded salaries and without monopolizing committee chairs and leadership positions."
The bill takes effect with the 121st Congress in 2029.
Which Career Politicians Lose Their Salaries in 2029
The list of members who would hit the 12-year threshold reads like a reunion of Washington's permanent ruling class.
In the Senate: Chuck Schumer of New York, Ted Cruz of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, and Chuck Grassley of Iowa – who has been collecting a Senate paycheck for 50 years and is currently the oldest sitting member of Congress at 92.
In the House: Hakeem Jeffries, James Comer, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Richard Neal would all face the cutoff. Steny Hoyer, who announced his retirement earlier this year after 45 years in the House, provides the clearest picture of what Roy's bill targets – a man who spent nearly half a century controlling the House schedule and Democrat caucus for two straight decades.
Roy himself won't be around to enforce it. He lost the Texas attorney general Republican primary last month to State Sen. Mayes Middleton and is serving out his final months in Congress.
"This bill helps ensure that public service remains exactly that: service to the people, not a lifelong career in politics," Roy said.
Why Every Term Limits Push Has Failed Until Now
This is not the first time Congress has stared down a term limits push.
The movement peaked in the early 1990s, when voters in more than 20 states passed ballot measures limiting their federal representatives.
It collapsed in 1995 when the Supreme Court ruled in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton that states have no authority to impose qualifications on federal lawmakers beyond what the Constitution already requires. The ruling was 5-4. Congress cheered and moved on.
The only path left was a constitutional amendment – and that road is nearly impassable.
An amendment requires a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate, then ratification by three-quarters of state legislatures. That means the same career politicians blocking term limits for decades must first vote to end their own careers.
Ted Cruz has introduced term limits legislation four times. He keeps running for reelection. When pressed on the contradiction, he told reporters he'd comply when everyone else had to.
Roy's bill sidesteps the amendment process entirely by targeting pay and power rather than eligibility – the one lever Congress controls without asking permission from itself or the states.
It is a narrower move than a true term limit. Members can still run and win indefinitely.
But a senator collecting no salary, chairing no committees, and holding no leadership role is a senator with no reason to stay.
The Part Congress Has Always Refused to Admit
Americans want term limits. The polling on this isn't close.
A Pew Research survey found 87 percent of Americans support congressional term limits – Republicans, Democrats, and independents all above 80 percent. That number has held steady for three decades.
Congress has known this for 30 years. Schumer has known it. Grassley has known it. Hoyer spent 45 years knowing it while cashing every paycheck.
They never moved. Not once.
Congressional pay and leadership structures are governed by statute and chamber rules – not the Constitution. Roy found that. A simple majority can strip every financial incentive keeping career politicians entrenched – no amendment, no convention, no permission from the people collecting the checks.
Whether it passes is a different question. The same members who would lose their salaries are the ones voting on it.
Twelve years. After that, you're a volunteer.
Schumer's been there for 45 years. The question now is whether any of his colleagues are willing to make him one.
Sources:
- Virginia Grace McKinnon, "Roy Targets Washington's 'Entrenchment' With No-Pay Term Limit Bill," The Daily Signal, June 9, 2026.
- "Rep. Roy Introduces No-Pay, No-Committees Term Limit Bill," Rep. Chip Roy press release, Roy.house.gov, June 9, 2026.
- "Rep Chip Roy proposes cutting pay for lawmakers who serve 12 or more years," Fox News, June 2026.
- "Chip Roy Has a Plan to Drain Congress of Its Elderly Swamp Creatures," RedState, June 11, 2026.
- "Five-in-Six Americans Favor Constitutional Amendment on Term Limits for Members of Congress," Program for Public Consultation, University of Maryland, 2023.
- "Why term limits for Congress face a challenging constitutional path," National Constitution Center, 2024.