Democratic Lawmaker Vows to Push for Mental Fitness Oversight in Congress With Cognitive Tests

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) is calling on Congress to confront a growing concern: cognitive decline among elected officials. In a failed amendment to a House Appropriations bill, Gluesenkamp Perez proposed that the Office of Congressional Conduct develop standards to evaluate whether lawmakers are impaired by "significant, irreversible cognitive impairment" and unable to perform their duties.

The proposal, which would have allowed for ethics investigations in such cases, was overwhelmingly voted down in a voice vote, highlighting the sensitivity of the issue in Congress, as Axios explains. Despite the rejection, Gluesenkamp Perez said she intends to continue pushing for reforms. "There is a profound erosion in trust in government," she told the news site. "People want systemic reform. They want accountability."

In a recent interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Gluesenkamp Perez emphasized that her proposal is not about age, but about transparency and representation:

"I have rules up, down, and sideways about what kind of hat I can accept as a gift, but these bigger questions about whether or not an office is being run by the person who's elected or their staff has not been addressed in the way that it needs to be, and, you know, there are a very few number of offices where this is called into question, but I would argue that the failure to address this and to reflect the experience of everybody who owns a farm and has to have these discussions in advance about ... who's driving the bus when, we need to have those in Congress"

The lawmaker's comments come amid growing scrutiny regarding aging lawmakers and high-profile instances of decline, such as the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and former Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), who reportedly spent the final months of her term in a care facility. Gluesenkamp Perez explained to Tapper that in such situations there is currently no clear process for staff or the public to raise concerns:

"There are only three ways for a Member of Congress to be removed from office. You can lose your election, you can die, or you can have two-thirds of the body vote to remove you. That doesn't change any of this. What we want is a clear, impartial body of information with which the Ethics Committee could then review and make a determination"

Gluesenkamp Perez, a former small business owner and first-term lawmaker, has made a name for herself by challenging the disconnect she sees between Washington and her rural Washington district. "What I hear from my neighbors is this idea that this place is being run by a bunch of staffers," she told Axios. "And we're seeing a very real decline in confidence in Congress."