Vice President Kamala Harris would be pressured to bring together leaders of the executive cabinet to push President Biden out of office via the 25th Amendment, under a new resolution introduced by Representative Chip Roy (R., Texas) on Friday.
The resolution calls on Harris and members of the cabinet to "activate section 4 of the 25th Amendment to declare President Joseph R. Biden incapable of executing the duties of his office and to immediately exercise powers as Acting President.” The aforementioned section allows the vice president and a majority of the executive cabinet to decide whether the president is fit to serve.
Roy’s resolutions argues that Biden “has repeatedly and publicly demonstrated his inability to discharge the powers and duties of the Presidency, including, among others, the powers and duties of the Commander-in-Chief.”
Biden struggled to form coherent sentences and at times wore a confused expression on his face during the first presidential debate on Thursday evening, showing signs of his advanced age and sparking immediate panic among many Democratic pundits and voters.
A vote on the resolution could force Democrats to go on record about whether they still view Biden as fit to serve.
Despite immediate panic from CNN and MSNBC commentators and Democratic operatives following the debate, many Democrats have since come to Biden's defense, including former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Representative Jim Clyburn.
It was not immediately clear whether the resolution would get a vote.
"I'm not trying to pressure or blindside leadership or anything," Roy said of the resolution. "It's just something I feel strongly about filing. We'll see where my colleagues are."
House Speaker Mike Johnson did not say whether he supported Roy’s resolution, but told the Washington Times that it would be up to Biden’s cabinet, not lawmakers, to invoke the 25th Amendment, if deemed appropriate.
"If I were in the cabinet … I would be having that discussion with my colleagues at the cabinet level. I would, and I think many of them are," Johnson said. "In their heart of hearts, they understand exactly what we do. They see exactly what we do. And we'll see what action they take."
A growing chorus of media figures and political pundits have called on Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race after his debate disaster, including the New York Times editorial board.
"Mr. Biden has been an admirable president. Under his leadership, the nation has prospered and begun to address a range of long-term challenges, and the wounds ripped open by Mr. Trump have begun to heal. But the greatest public service Mr. Biden can now perform is to announce that he will not continue to run for re-election," the editorial board wrote on Friday.
Biden, meanwhile, tried to play down his poor debate showing at a rally in North Carolina on Friday. "I don't debate as well as I used to," he said, as his supporters cheered.
"I know what I do know. I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. I know, like millions of Americans, when you get knocked down, you get back up," Biden added.
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