As Democrats remain ensconced in debate over whether to continue supporting President Joe Biden or replace him with a younger candidate, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has put forth an interesting proposal: Use the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.
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While Democrats calling on Biden to drop out of the race view his candidacy as a danger to their prospects for retaining control of the White House in November, Johnson views the president’s condition as a danger to the country.
Asked again if he supported Rep. Chip Roy’s resolution to call on Vice President Kamala Harris to remove Mr. Biden from office with the 25th Amendment, Mr. Johnson said most Americans and Republicans would agree that it was appropriate for her to take that historic step.
“There’s a time to every purpose under heaven; desperate times call for desperate measures. I think the 25th Amendment is appropriate here,” Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol.
The process for removing a president from office under the 25th Amendment would involve a series of steps on the part of members of his cabinet and Congress. First, Vice President Kamala Harris would have to recruit enough cabinet members to support such a move and write a declaration that would be sent to the president pro tempore of the Senate — a position currently occupied by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) — and House Speaker Johnson.
At this point, Harris would become acting president. However, if Biden disputes the declaration, he will send his own declaration to the same congressional leaders, making the case that he is still capable of performing his duties.
Harris and the majority of Cabinet members would have four days to respond to Biden’s statements. At this point, it would require a two-thirds vote in both chambers of the legislature to affirm that Harris remains as acting president.
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Republicans have repeatedly hammered Democratic politicians and media figures who tried to cover for Biden’s apparent cognitive problems. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) pointed out the hypocrisy of those calling for Biden to drop out after he has already been nominated while constantly claiming to value democracy.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican, noted that Democrats were considering “throwing out the votes of 14 million Democratic primary voters who chose Joe Biden to be their nominee.”
“Think about that. The party that loves lecturing people about democracies is in a smoke-filled room trying to throw out the democratically chosen nominee for president by the Democratic voters,” Mr. Scalise said.
Johnson insisted that the 25th Amendment was the best way to deal with Biden, who has repeatedly repudiated calls for him to leave the race. The lawmaker argued that it is “not a good circumstance for us to have a commander in chief who is not on his A game, who can only work a few hours a day and can’t answer questions in complete sentences.”
The question is: Would Vice President Harris and her fellow Democrats be able to garner enough support for such an endeavor?