Good morning everyone. thank you for being here. uh we are really very honored to have congressman Raskin uh to uh lead us through his legislation, which is so very important. so I hope you will prepare yourselves for civic session or a presentation on the Constitution of the United States The 25th amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1967 after the assassination of. President Kennedy with strong bipartisan support members of Congress have a duty to take all necessary action to preserve continuity, government and protect the stability and integrity of our democracy for the future. That is why today again, it is my honor to welcome Congressman Jamie Raskin of a constitutional scholar as he introduces legislation to establish a commission on presidential capacity to discharge. Duties and the powers and duties of the office. This is not about President Trump he will face the judgement of the voters, but he who shows the need for us to create a process for future presidents throughout America's history. Our leaders have created and strengthened guardrails in the constitution to ensure stability and continuity of government in times of crisis The 25th Amendment creates a path for observing to. If a president a crippling physical or mental problem and is unquote end of amendment unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office and transfers his power specifically section four of the amendment empowers Congress to set up an independent body uh to confront such a crisis. Congress has a constitutional duty to lay out the process by which a president is presidents in the past. And the president of any party is determined this bill honors the duty by us, creating a Standing commission uh of top former executive officials and medical experts selected in a bipartisan by camera way a president's fitness for office must be determined by science and facts This legislation applies to future presidents, but we are reminded of the. Necessity of action by the health of the current president with this bill, the Congress honors our oath to support and defend the constitution and protect the American people and we uphold our responsibility to preserve our republic for generations to come Now, it is my honor to yield to the distinguished gentleman from Maryland a constitutional authority by teaching it honoring it and uh again legislating to honor our constitution Congressman Raskin Thank you. For your leadership. Madam Speaker Thank you very much um I'm honored uh by your words and uh thank you for um inviting me to present to the press this legislation um in times of chaos, we must hold fast to our constitution The 25th amendment is all about the stability of the presidency and the continuity of the office. It's a tool that was adopted by overwhelming bipartisan majorities in the house and in the Senate in in 1965, an overwhelming bipartisan. And uh of the state legislatures three-quarters of whom passed it in 1967, um the 25th amendment is designed to guarantee the continuing peaceful transfer of power in our country. the principle authors of the amendment like Senators Birch and Robert F Kennedy and Congressman Manual seller from New York wanted to resolve basic questions about stability continuity and succession in the office. Presidency so Section one established that the presidency is vacant, the vice president becomes the president and believe it believe it or not was ambiguous at the time Section two establishes that if the vice presidency is vacant, the president nominates a vice president and by concurrent majority majority vote of the House and that nominee becomes um the Vice president Section three established a process for the temporary transfer of power by. Who is incapacitated uh by transmitting to the president's pro of the Senate and to the speaker of the House, a statement establishing a temporary disability, and this has happened multiple times with uh various presidents including President Reagan who transferred powers to uh Vice President Bush when he underwent colorectal surgery now Section four deals with the problem of a a president who becomes incapacitated but has made no provision to temporarily transfer powers, meaning in the words. Senator Birch by that the president is unable either to make or to communicate his decisions as to his own competency to execute the powers and duties of his office in that case the vice president and a majority of the cabinet or the vice president and such other body that may be established by Congress may determine that there is a presidential incapacity and notify the president and the speaker of the House of that. Of that inability to conduct the powers and duties of office in that case the powers would be transferred to the vice president now if you read Section four, you will see that the president has the opportunity to object that he actually can conduct the powers despite what the vice president and uh these bodies are saying uh and ultimately there would be a vote of the house from the Senate and it requires two-thirds to side with the vice president. So. It's it's made really difficult to make sure that this is really only for the most extreme situations where you have a president who cannot fulfill the functions of the office. Now, it's never been necessary, but the authors of the Twenty-fifth Amendment thought it essential in the nuclear age to have a safety valve option uh and as they often said we have 535 members of Congress, but we only have one president in the age of. Nineteen which has killed more than 210000 Americans and now ravaged the White House staff the wisdom of the Twenty-fifth amendment is clear what happens if a president any president ends up in a coma or on a ventilator and has made no provisions for the temporary transfer of power under section three, who has the powers of the presidency at that point, is it the chief of staff? is it the vice president is the Secretary of State. This situation is. Demands Action under Section four, I wish that Congress had set up this permanent body 50 years ago. uh it did not do it but um we do need to do this um certainly in the next Congress uh the Framers of the Twenty-fifth Amendment knew that you could always count on the cabinet to act and so Congress has a role to play and that role must be totally by by and totally bipartisan and the legislation that I introduced today uh seek. And I would seek to establish a sixteen member commission that could act in the event of such an emergency and a chair, a seventeenth member chosen by the sixteen members themselves Eight members are chosen half by Republican leaders and half by Democratic leaders from medical personnel physicians and um other medical authorities the other eight members are drawn from former the ranks of former High-ranking. Branch officers, including former presidents vice presidents attorneys general secretaries of uh treasury and state and surgeon general. so the so the commission entirely bipartisan and of course under the 25th Amendment, it can act only in concert with the vice president who is the key actor under the 25th Amendment um so the constitution is designed to give us the tools that we need to deal with the many crisis of human affairs that. Uh affect the continuity of Democratic self-government we are um in the middle of a momentous election and as the speaker said the people will decide that but when we get through this, the problem that we're talking about today is something serious that we have to face and uh I'm delighted to introduce this legislation and to answer any questions you may have. Concerned here with this commission. Number one is the idea that medical professionals will on this commission would not have examined the brush. There are ethical issues as whether or not that's appropriate present to rule. On the president's help and they have not done that and number two, you say this is something in the future of commerce that you can address. How can we read that at this point in time? Not being productive so um I'll answer the first question I'd love to speak or take the second the legislation um sets up a process by which Congress through concur votes in the house and the Senate could direct the commission to conduct a medical exam of the president and that would include whatever the members of the commission think is necessary to determine whether or not there's an incapacity if the president refuses and the president would have a right to refuse that could be. Into account uh by the commission, which would have to rule based on all of the other evidence that it has. Again, this isn't about uh any judgement anybody has about somebody's behavior. This is about a diagnosis uh a professional medical diagnosis. uh let me just back up for a second just to put a personal uh here when this happened it was after the assassination of President Kennedy and you may not know this. you weren't born yet, but there was no um and Linda Johnson became president There was no vice president. And if anything had happened to President Johnson and his health was not the greatest, the speaker of the house would have become the president of the United States so this sets up how would elect another of a vice president, a Vice president we chosen by the president but voted upon by the House and Senate, and of course that's what happened with uh Gerald Ford. he was after anew. He was appointed the vice president and uh very popular in the Congress on both sides of the both sides of the capital I take um uh I love the story about how that happened because on his ninetieth birthday, Gerald Ford came to the house, which is where he's sprang from. he was the minority leader and I said mister President I'm so honored to serve. I was minority leader at a time. I'm so honored to serve in the position that. Served in and he said to me I serve with your father I served with your father and he tell me stories about that when he died, I was the incoming speaker and we had the honor of opening up the speaker's office and all the rest even though wasn't gonna be sworn in for a day or two but had possession of the speaker's office open to his family who at the time he was minority leader. That's where he presided and again where his children came and did their home with an older. so we have a real personal. Connection to Gerald Ford, who filled this spot as determined by the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution. uh we have we can do a couple things at once we can engage in our political activity for the public to make its verdict uh 25 days from now uh and at the the same time honor responsibilities to have something in place that does not apply to this president uh but certainly erases the. If a president and this is, you know not with bad intentions if a a president incapacitated by a ventilation, whatever it happens to be that uh he would not have the ability as. Ronald Reagan had as President George Herbert Walker Bush had as President George W Bush had to make a judgement uh for this period of time I transfer the power so this sets up a formula. It's not for any of us to decide that it's about a process to decide it and as the uh as the distinguished, Gentleman said without the vice president with Vice president is crucial to this and that would be the president. The vice president of the President's party. Excuse me one at a time. okay. Go ahead You're you're toying with the idea of impeachment. Now you're talking about. I was doing well your toy. I was not a toying with the idea of impeachment. Let's not have a predicate that did not exist. Another question because that is based on a false. yes, I'm just curious about the timing. Legislation now why not wait still in the new session of come. Uh things may have changed, They have a clear view of. We want to be ready and it takes time and there's been a call uh for why not execute uh the 25th Amendment. Oh, that's not what we're doing. We're saying let us Congress exert the power that the Constitution gave it Jamie. Did you wanna speak to me? You know, it's interesting that when I found that the body had never been set up and I I guess the reason is that there's never a really good time to do it because it's always seen just in its local circumstance as opposed to the need to have this institutionally um and um so I guess I would say this is folk the situation is focused everybody's mind uh on the need for uh following through on this suggestion in the 25th Amendment that Congress set up its own body and uh. I think again in the age of covet nineteen uh where a lot of government actors have been afflicted by it. uh we need to act to Garrett my colleagues question. I mean this is a president who has been teaching you've been coming to recent days to suggesting that you think his mental state might be affected by the drugs that he's on what do you say to those who see what you're doing now and say uh this is just another attempt to go around the public and try to get rid of this president. You know through a way that's not gonna. Well, let me first say what I said about the president and the drugs was there are those who believe that taking certain medications can affect your judgement. I don't know, I said, Let's let's let's say what I actually said I don't know. that's what I said I wanna call with my members so you may have gotten it through several times There are those medical professionals who say. Certain medications can impair judgement, I don't know and this is not I appreciate your question because this is really important. It's not about any of us making a judgement about the president's well being. It's about this respected bipartisan both aspects of it the medical side of it and the dignity states side of it are selected equally by. Speaker the leader, the speakers of the leader, the the leader in a bipartisan way and the vice president is crucial to that uh when we do legislation, it's important to socialize it so that people understand why so that we would like to have it in place and it could be said for future presidency it the president wins this election. Yes, it would apply to him if he doesn't it will apply to the next president. United states, but this isn't about anything to say um we gotta do something like this about the election. It's not about the election at all and I think that uh the distinguished gentleman from Maryland for this has been we could have done this a while back. If the timing is for now because people want to know we have to give some comfort to people that there is a way to do this very respectful of not making a judgement on the basis of a comment or behavior that we don't like but based on a medical decision again with the full um involvement of the vice president of the United States, whoever he or she may be uh at at the time, we didn't see them as a president. The price for Well, III don't understand that you can see that the president has not met the rental. That's not for us. That's not for us to decide. Yeah, I mean the whole point is look we understand that in politics, people point fingers back and forth, but the issues raised are such gravity and central importance to the nature of our government that we've gotta think of this in constitutional terms and this is why we need to set up an institution composed. On a bipartisan uh fashion in by camera fashion that will be able to make judgments um whether it is 5 months from now 5 years from now 50 years from now, whatever it might be uh you know we're living in an age of a lot of chaos uh and you know, II wanna say I appreciate uh what the speaker has to go through on a daily basis dealing with the chaos of politics, which has been made, especially intense recently um and I appreciate. Uh seeing that we need to create some constitutional and institutional foundations for dealing with the chaos and our four bears who wrote the Twenty-fifth Amendment gave us the tools that we need to deal with these kinds of crisis our common ground with the American people is the constitution of the United States. Uh it is always been uh gratifying for me edifying to go around the country and no matter Democrats or Republicans right or left. Ever. That the constitution, the rules are what really to unify us and this is a comfort to people that it's not about who's power thing. I don't like the way he or she is acting. It's about a process that is bipartisan based in the constitution, giving Congress the power to do this which Congress hasn't done and again at a time when people understand uh that it has uh some. There's a necessity for but again to you to your question, it isn't about any of us making a decision as to whether the 25th Amendment should be invoked. That's totally not the point that's not up to us. That's not up to us but I do go back to mister Ras Point just put yourself in in a and your responsibilities to your family should any of you suffer a stroke or covet and go to ventilation and all the rest of it and are not capable of making decisions for your family. Just cuz unforeseen accidental whatever happens, wouldn't you have in advance like to have had a plan for your family? even if it's temporary, God willing even if it's temporary uh that would be in place. So that's that's what this is about. Suggested this would take one more because I have a day job. As an altered state of mind. Of the indications of that, and if I may. Recently, you commented on UK Brexit policy Do you think Prime Minister Boris Johnson is an example of somebody. Is reduced by I have no idea, nor do I have a President Trump uh I just said he clearly he is under medication any of us who is under medication of that seriousness has has isn't an altered state that he has bragged about the medication that he has taken and again uh um there are articles by medical professionals, saying this could as I said earlier could have an impact on judgement. I don't know the thing this idea of Bar Johnson. But I'm glad you brought up the subject because I think we have to be very careful about what happens in the UK uh the um we have very stringent rules in terms of the food and drug administration here about the number of um clinical trials, the timing the number of people and all the rest so that when a drug is approved by the FDA and the Advisory scientific Advisory committee, uh that it is safe and efficacious then it will have the trust of the American people. To take it vaccines are about trust. We want people to take it so we pray that it is soon the sooner the better not 1 day sooner than it is safe and efficacious, but not 1 day later either and uh my concern is that the Uk's system for that kind of judgement is not on a par with ours in the United States. So if Boris Johnson decides he's going to approve a drug and this president embraces, that's that's the concern. That I have about any similarity between the two. Thank you all very much. Thank you.