Congress needs a plan to remove incapable lawmakers who refuse to step down

Aging is hard. It often brings illness and infirmity. Aging in the public eye is even harder. Just ask Mitch McConnell, Kay Granger or Dianne Feinstein.

And as the Bipartisan Policy Center notes, years ago, “Senator Karl Mundt of North Dakota suffered a stroke and was absent from the Senate for the final three years of his term. Illness forced Senator Carter Glass of Virginia to be absent from the Senate for nearly two years. In the case of Glass, citizens of Virginia petitioned courts to remove Glass from his seat, as it was effectively vacant. The court refused to take action.”

These are just a few of the names of members of Congress who have continued to serve long after they were equipped to do so. Each of them stayed on in spite of suffering debilitating illnesses, and there was nothing their colleagues could do other than expel them through a disciplinary procedure. That has never been done.  

Congress needs to establish a separate procedure to address situations when members cannot discharge their duties. Because Congress determines the qualifications of its members and can remove them, there is no need for the equivalent of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to deal with congressional inability to serve. 

The average age of senators is now around 65. Thirty senators are over 75, with Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) topping the list at 92. In the House of Representatives, which skews younger, there are 18 members over 80. 

But age in itself is not the issue. As Idaho’s 82-year-old Sen. Jim Risch........

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