Overview

• The House Appropriations Committee voted down Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s proposal to task the Office of Congressional Conduct with setting mental fitness standards for members.
• Committee chair David Valadao and ranking member Adriano Espaillat argued that biannual elections already serve as an adequate check on lawmakers’ capabilities.
• Perez maintains her amendment would impartially evaluate cognitive fitness without discriminating by age and bolster ethics enforcement.
• High-profile instances of mental decline among veteran lawmakers, such as Sens. Feinstein and former Reps. Granger and Norton, have intensified calls for institutional reform.
• Perez plans to cultivate support across party lines as debates grow over Congress’s aging membership and the scope of ethics oversight.