Congress Lacks Plan to Replace Incapacitated Lawmakers as 431-Member House Faces Thin GOP Margin
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jul 24
Congress Lacks Plan to Replace Incapacitated Lawmakers as 431-Member House Faces Thin GOP Margin
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 24
Summary
Months-long absences by Rep. Tom Kean Jr. and Sen. Mitch McConnell exposed that Congress has no clear mechanism to replace lawmakers who are incapacitated but still hold office.
Article I sets age, citizenship and residency requirements and allows each chamber to expel members with a two-thirds vote, but it says nothing about health, mental capacity or prolonged nonattendance.
Governors can fill Senate vacancies in all but four states, but only after a seat is declared vacant; House seats cannot be appointed at all and must wait for special elections.
The lone modern health-related precedent came in 1981, when the House declared Gladys Noon Spellman's seat vacant after she remained in a coma and could not take the oath.
That gap matters more with the House at 431 members—218 Republicans, 212 Democrats and one GOP-aligned independent—where extended absences already have strained the GOP's narrow control.