OAN’s James Meyers
1:35 PM – Thursday, September 7, 2023
John James, a House Republican, is urging Congress to consider a new bill that requires age limits for federal elected officials.
The new resolution was introduced by James (R-Mich.) this week, and it is aimed at pushing lawmakers to amend the constitution and set a rule in place for an upper-age limit eligibility in order to become president, vice president, or a member of Congress.
If the new bill is passed, it would request Congress to work on a Constitutional amendment for individuals to stop running for office “if at any time during the term the person will be 75 years of age or older,” according to bill text obtained by Fox News.
“The world’s not getting slower, it’s getting faster. The world’s not getting safer, it’s getting more dangerous. The world’s not getting any younger and we have a lower bound, it just makes sense to have an upper bound,” James told the press in an interview.
The new bill comes after older senators have recently had multiple health scares, such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY.), Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif), and President Joe Biden.
“You can’t watch a video of Feinstein or McConnell or Biden and tell me everything’s OK,” James said. “It’s not just us saying it, it’s our adversary seeing it, they see that America has lost a step.”
“Our founders didn’t intend for these to be lifetime appointments in the legislature. They didn’t intend for legislators to die in office or to get doggone close. They didn’t intend for a politician to line their pockets, to gain decades of seniority, and get to be millionaires in office either.”
However, James also said that the change would be a years-long process and that a Constitutional amendment must be approved by two-thirds of both the House and Senate, as well as ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures.
“This is something that we need to make our country stronger for hundreds of years into the future,” James said.
The Republican is also pushing a larger accountability package, including limiting service in Congress to 18 years.
A third bill, as part of the package, would restrict legislators from receiving salaries in the event of a government shutdown. The fourth bill would ease requirements for firing federal workers.
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