Mark Neumann Wants Term Limits for Congressmen

called for reforms in Congress Monday morning when he announced his plan to “clean up Washington” during a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Waukesha.

Neumann, who is running on the Republican ticket to replace the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl, said his plan has three major parts:

• enacting term limits,
• requiring federal legislation to specifically state where in the Constitution the federal government receives its powers, and
• removing benefits for retired members of Congress who become registered lobbyists.

“Those are the three policy changes we think would go a long way toward cleaning up Washington, D.C.,” Neumann said.

Neumann is running in the fall election against a full Republican field, including former and . The Democratic candidates include

The U.S. was founded on a premise that the country should be run by private-sector citizens who serve for a specific time period, Neumann said, which is why he wants to enact term limits for members of Congress.

Neumann’s proposal for an Enumerated Powers Act focuses on the 10^th Amendment. Neumann said that if the Constitution doesn’t give the federal government the power to enact certain legislation and policies, “the responsibility belongs to the states, and more importantly, the people.”

The plans to eliminate benefits for members of the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate who leave their elected positions and become lobbyists by using their government contacts would affect about 400 former members of Congress, according to a news release from Neumann. Some of these lobbyists are making millions in their work, he said during his news conference.

“Taxpayers are no longer going to supplement the income of lobbyists and special interest groups by supplying pensions and health insurance benefits,” Neumann said.

State Legislators Endorse Neumann

Meanwhile, Neumann also announced Monday the endorsements of Wisconsin assemblymen Jeremy Thiesfeldt, R-Fond du Lac, and David Craig, R-Big Bend.

Thiesfeldt, who was present at Neumann’s news conference, said he was proud to endorse Neumann.

“I think Mark Neumann has a great record from his years in Congress back in the Republican revolution of 1994,” Thiesfeldt said. “He established a strong record of being a budget hawk and had the great accomplishment of being able to get the budget balanced in the United States government. That is something that we need in Congress today.”