Late-night comedians love to joke about Congress as a retirement home. Last week, it looked like no joke.

Two elderly Democratic House members — 71-year-old Rep. Debbie Dingell (Mich.) and 80-year-old Rep. Jan Schakowsky (Ill.) — made TV news after they were caught on camera dozing off during a long hearing. For the record, 44-year-old Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah,) also nodded off.

Such talk about the age of politicians is being boosted by President Trump’s plan for a brassy celebration of his upcoming 79th birthday. He is coordinating his party with a huge military parade in the nation’s capital. Trump is now older than former President Biden was at this point in his presidency.

Meanwhile, the 82-year-old Biden’s age is currently at the forefront of charges that his staff downplayed his failing mental acuity during the 2024 campaign, allowing Trump to win a second term. And just yesterday the former president revealed that he is suffering from an aggressive form of prostate cancer.

A new book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” reports that White House aides put more effort into hiding Biden’s age than into stopping Trump from returning to power with a far-right agenda.

Attention to the age of Washington’s top power players is also at the center of a push by 25-year-old David Hogg, the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. He is calling for younger, more energetic Democrats to take seats in Congress and better challenge the Trump agenda.

Hogg has yet to name the older Democrats he sees as ripe for being replaced. He denies trying to........

© The Hill