Should Politicians Have Age Limits? We should talk about it 😬

The 118th United States Congress is the third oldest since the first Congress was convened in 1789. The oldest Congress was the 117th, which just concluded its term. This means that the elected leaders of our country are older than they have ever been. Some of them are very old. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell froze up again last week during a speech. It’s the second time the 81-year-old politician froze up like that. On Aug. 30, McConnell appeared to freeze up and remained silent for about 30 seconds during a news conference. In July, a similar incident happened to McConnell in Washington. The U.S. Capitol physician said Tuesday these incidents show no sign of being strokes or seizures, you don’t need to be the official Capitol doctor to find these moments concerning. It’s no surprise they’ve reignited the discussion around age limits for politicians. The 118th Congress is the third-oldest since 1789. The oldest Congress ever was the 117th. It shows our elected leaders are almost older than they’ve ever been. Some leaders are very old.

The youngest member of Congress is Maxwell Frost, a Democratic representative from Central Florida. He was elected at 25 and recently turned 26. He wasn’t born when Diane Feinstein, D-California, was elected in 1992. Feinstein turned 90 this year. When Feinstein was 25, Alaska and Hawaii weren’t even states yet, most cars were made without seatbelts and the average cost of a new home was $12,000. There are age limits to serve in the federal government:

You must be at least 30 years old to be a U.S. senator
You must be at least 25 years told to be a U.S. representative
You must be at least 35 years told to become president

However, there are no rules for maximum age or term limits for Congress. It’s solidified by a 1995 case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. The court found that the founders could have created Congressional term limits but chose not to.

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