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A group of conservative Republicans in the U.S. Senate, including Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, are pushing a new constitutional amendment that would limit senators to two terms and members of the House to three.

The amendment, authored by Tea Party favorite Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), faces a Democratic majority in the Senate, but a companion bill is expected to be introduced soon in the Republican-controlled U.S. House, according to U.S. Term Limits, a Washington D.C.-area group that pushes for term limits in city, state and national government.

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The organization says it’s fighting a “tyrannical ruling class.” Remember, its website warns, “Every town councilman wants to be a congressman; every congressman wants to be a senator; and every Senator wants to be president.”

Johnson, favored last year by many of Wisconsin’s Tea Party groups, is joined by Tea Party freshman Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and eight other Republican senators in co-sponsoring the amendment, which would require passage by two-thirds of the House and Senate and then approval in two-thirds of the country’s state Legislatures (37) for ratification.

One of co-sponsors, conservative Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), has so far followed the term limit rules voluntarily. He refused to run for a fourth term in the House in 2000, and instead ran successfully for the Senate in 2004 and was reelected last fall. Ratification of the amendment would prevent Coburn, a medical doctor and one of Congress’ most prominent pro-life members, from running again.

Another group backing term limits, the conservative Our Generation organization in Maryland, says “now is the time to drain the swamp in Washington D.C. and restore public trust in our elected officials by adopting term limits.” The group argues that term limits encourage competitive elections and “spread power” by preventing long-standing legislators from entrenching themselves.

In Johnson’s campaign, he painted three-term incumbent Russ Feingold, who took office in 1993, as an entrenched career politician.

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