Gluesenkamp Perez Revives Cognitive Standards for Congress After FY27 Amendment Failed
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jul 22
Gluesenkamp Perez Revives Cognitive Standards for Congress After FY27 Amendment Failed
2 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 22
Summary
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez renewed her push for congressional cognitive standards, arguing lawmakers should be able to perform their duties or leave office.
Her May amendment to the FY27 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill would have directed the Office of Congressional Conduct to define when significant irreversible cognitive impairment violates House standards, but it failed on a voice vote.
Rare bipartisan support has surfaced online, with conservatives and liberals alike backing mandatory testing or broader scrutiny of what Perez calls Washington’s “gerontocracy.”
The effort also drew criticism from both sides, with some arguing it is too narrow and others casting it as a generational or ideological power play.
Perez has pressed the issue since at least 2025 and previously urged Joe Biden to quit the 2024 race, while citing cognitive fitness—not age alone—as the standard.