FIRST ON FOX: A freshman House Republican is calling on Congress to give serious thought to imposing age limits for federal elected officials, with new legislation aimed at injecting new blood into Capitol Hill.
Rep. John James, R-Mich., introduced a resolution this week aimed at pushing lawmakers to amend the Constitution and establish an upper age limit for eligibility to be president, vice president or a member of Congress.
If passed, it would call on Congress to work on a Constitutional amendment to stop anyone from running for those offices “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 Digital.
“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 Fox News Digital in an interview.
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From left: Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Calif., Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. (Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call Inc. | Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call Inc. | Paul Morigi via Getty Images)
It comes as speculation over the health of older senators, like Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and even President Biden, has taken center stage several times this year.
“You can’t watch a video of Feinstein or McConnell or Biden and tell me that 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.”
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Rep. John James, R-Mich., introduced a new bill to push Congress to act on imposing age limits to serve. (Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images / File)
“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.”
James dodged a question about how it would affect former President Donald Trump, who is 77 and running for another White House term – and who James has also endorsed.
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Instead, he pointed out that making the actual change would likely be a years-long process – a Constitutional amendment must be approved by two-thirds of both the House and Senate and ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures.
The age limits would apply to president, vice president and members of Congress. (Chris Kleponis / CNP / Bloomberg via Getty Images / File)
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“This is something that we need to make our country stronger for hundreds of years into the future,” James said.
The resolution is part of a wider government accountability package that James is pushing in Congress. Another resolution included would ask Congress to weigh a Constitutional amendment to limit service in Congress, across both chambers, to 18 years. A third bill previously reported by Fox News Digital would stop lawmakers from being paid in the event of a shutdown while a fourth would loosen requirements for firing certain federal workers.
