Are you frustrated that Congress can’t get anything done? Tired of all the politicking instead of governing? Ready to throw the bums out? Then you’re among the 80% of Americans who are in favor of congressional term limits.

“You’d be hard pressed to find another policy that more Americans from both sides of the aisle agree on,” writes Charlie Hunt, a political scientist from Boise State University.

The thinking behind term limits, Hunt writes, is that a new crop of elected leaders will produce “a more effective and perhaps less polarized Congress.”

Wrong.

Hunt and other political scientists say term limits aren’t the fix for what ails Congress. In fact, they can “create more problems than they solve,” he writes.

The blunt instrument that is terms limits reflects a failure to credit “the benefits of representatives who have been serving in office for a long time,” writes Hunt. “These members have had more time to gain knowledge and experience about Congress as an institution; develop policy expertise in issues important to their districts; and cultivate working relationships with fellow members that help them make policy more effectively.”

Also in this week’s politics news:

Naomi Schalit

Senior Editor, Politics + Democracy
Would term limits lead to a more effective and less polarized Congress? Andrey Denisyuk/Getty Images

Term limits aren’t the answer

Charlie Hunt, Boise State University

Very few Americans believe Congress is doing a good job. Some of them have a simple solution: Throw the bums out and institute term limits. But that creates more problems than it solves.
Aid trucks loaded with supplies wait in Arish, Egypt, after a border crossing with Gaza was closed on May 8, 2024. Ali Moustafa/Getty Images

I’ve spent decades overseeing relief operations around the world, and here’s what’s going wrong in Gaza

Raymond Offenheiser, University of Notre Dame

A United Nations agency known as UNRWA is the main player in crisis response in Gaza – but Israel will no longer work with UNRWA, and border crossings are not consistent in getting aid through.
Haitians deported from the Dominican Republic head back across the border. Steven Aristil/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Haitians looking to escape violence and chaos face hostility in neighboring Dominican Republic

Edlin Veras, Swarthmore College

With legal routes to the US curtailed, many Haitians are looking to cross the border into the Dominican Republic − but a shaky reception awaits.

Confusion over how pregnancy dates are measured is widespread – and makes for uninformed debate over abortion limits

Laurel Elder, Hartwick College; Mary-Kate Lizotte, Augusta University; Steven Greene, North Carolina State University

Most Americans surveyed did not know how pregnancies are dated or how long a trimester is – but this is especially true among some groups, like people who say they support six-week abortion bans.

An obscure provision of Ohio law could keep Biden off the ballot there in November

Jonathan Entin, Case Western Reserve University

Ohio remains stuck with a deadline that won’t allow Joe Biden, running for reelection, to appear on the November ballot. The GOP-run Legislature does not appear to want to fix the problem.

The price of rebuilding Ukraine goes up each day − but shirking the bill will cost even more

Jeffrey Kucik, University of Arizona

The World Bank estimates that it will take $480 billion of investment to get Ukraine back on its feet after the war.

Plant-based meat alternatives are trying to exit the culture wars – an impossible task?

S. Marek Muller, Texas State University; David Rooney, The University of Texas at Austin

As vegan meat companies lose revenue, one company is trying a new packaging approach to bring in new consumers. But this step is unlikely to help end the ‘Meat Culture War.’