As she kicked off her campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley proposed on Wednesday that all lawmakers 75 and over be required to take a mental acuity test.
“In the America that I see … we will have term limits for Congress, and mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old,” said Haley, 51, to cheers from the crowd.
Haley, a former South Carolina governor, spent a good portion of her speech laying out her vision for the country, arguing that, to achieve a “proud America, strong and proud, not weak and woke,” Americans must try out “some things we’ve never done” — like voting a woman into the Oval Office. That vision also includes limiting older lawmakers’ time in Congress.
In her remarks, Haley encouraged supporters to “look past the failed ideas of leaders in Washington and find the courage to be part of the solution.”
Hypothetically, if enacted in 2022, Haley’s proposal to test the “mental competency” of lawmakers would affect a number of sitting senators, including three members of her own party: 89-year-old Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), 79-year-old James E. Risch (Wis.) and 80-year-old Mitch McConnell (Ky.), the Senate minority leader.
The average age of the Senate is 64.
“In the America that I see … we will have term limits for Congress, and mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old,” said Haley, 51, to cheers from the crowd.
Haley, a former South Carolina governor, spent a good portion of her speech laying out her vision for the country, arguing that, to achieve a “proud America, strong and proud, not weak and woke,” Americans must try out “some things we’ve never done” — like voting a woman into the Oval Office. That vision also includes limiting older lawmakers’ time in Congress.
In her remarks, Haley encouraged supporters to “look past the failed ideas of leaders in Washington and find the courage to be part of the solution.”
Hypothetically, if enacted in 2022, Haley’s proposal to test the “mental competency” of lawmakers would affect a number of sitting senators, including three members of her own party: 89-year-old Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), 79-year-old James E. Risch (Wis.) and 80-year-old Mitch McConnell (Ky.), the Senate minority leader.
The average age of the Senate is 64.
