President Donald Trump

Photo via Gage Skidmore/Flickr (CC-BY-SA)

House bill would create commission to determine if Trump is fit for office

The bill has 21 co-sponsors as of Monday.

 

Andrew Wyrich

Tech

Posted on Jul 3, 2017   Updated on May 23, 2021, 1:05 am CDT

Democrats in the House of Representatives have put forth a bill that would create a bipartisan commission responsible for determining whether the president is mentally or physically fit to hold office.

The bill, which was introduced in April but has gained momentum after President Donald Trump’s latest flurry of bizarre Twitter posts, would create the Oversight Commission on Presidential Capacity, and could remove presidents from office if the committee found they were mentally or physically unfit for office, according to NBC News.

“Given Donald Trump’s continued erratic and baffling behavior, is it any wonder why we need to pursue this legislation?” Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.) said, according to NBC News. “The mental and physical health of the leader of the United States and the free world is a matter of great public concern.”

The commission would be able to evaluate whether the president—in this instance, President Trump—is “temporarily or permanently impaired by physical illness or disability, mental illness, mental deficiency, or alcohol or drug use to the extent that the person lacks sufficient understanding or capacity to execute the powers and duties of the office of president,” NBC News reports.

The key to the bill is a never-before-used section of the 25th Amendment, which allows the vice president and a majority of Congress to remove a president from office if they have the consent of the majority of the cabinet or other bodies of Congress.

As of Monday, the bill has 21 sponsors—with the latest co-signer joining last week amid Trump’s recent sexist tweets about MSNBC’s Morning Joe hosts and a tweet depicting him body slamming a person superimposed with CNN’s logo as their face.

The tweets have caused a growing number of people to question whether Trump is upholding the dignity of the office of president.

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*First Published: Jul 3, 2017, 10:50 am CDT