Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) introduced a resolution Friday urging Vice President Harris to convene the Cabinet and declare President Biden unable to carry out the duties of the Oval Office after the commander in chief’s poor debate performance the night before.
The announcement marks the latest fallout from the CNN debate between Biden and former President Trump, during which the incumbent tripped over his words and appeared to lose his train of thought, prompting widespread concern among Democrats.
“I intend to put forth a resolution calling upon the @VP to immediately use her powers under section 4 of the 25th Amendment to convene & mobilize the principal officers of the Cabinet to declare the @POTUS is unable to successfully discharge the duties and powers of his office,” Roy wrote in a post on the social platform X.
The brief resolution introduced later in the day said 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.”
The resolution would simply express the sense of the House, and not force action from the Vice President or cabinet.
Roy told reporters Friday morning that,”I think anybody with eyes and anybody observing objectively last night saw an individual that is not capable of carrying out the duties the commander-in-chief in a world in which we’re, you know, facing increasing dangers.”
He added, “for those of us who follow this stuff internally, it has been very clear the declining status of the of the capacity of the president, but last night put it all out for all to see. Our colleagues on their side of the aisle can’t hide from it. And frankly, I don’t do this through a political lens, right. I mean, I don’t view it through the lens of well, is the timing good and bad for what happens in November or anything else? It’s just the simple fact of the matter is the president of the United States is not capable of doing the job.”
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) later on Friday said he thinks Biden’s cabinet should consider removing the president in light of the debate. But asked about Roy’s resolution, he noted that Congress cannot force the first step.
“Unfortunately, it’s not the House that gets to determine that, it’s the Cabinet under the Constitution, of course, it’s the Cabinet that makes that decision,” Johnson said.
Section 4 of the 25th Amendment — which has never been used — says that if the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet or Congress deem the president as “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” the vice president should “immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.”
“Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President,” the amendment reads.
Harris defended Biden’s debate performance on CNN immediately after Thursday night’s event, conceding he had a “slow start” but arguing he had a “strong finish” and had laid out a strong contrast between himself and Trump.
“People can debate on style points, but ultimately, this election and who is the president of the United States has to be about substance. And the contrast is clear,” Harris told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “Look at what happened during the course of the debate. Donald Trump lied over and over and over again as he has want to do.”
On Friday, her spokesperson Ernie Apreza said Harris “looks forward to serving a second term with President Joe Biden.”
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates went after Roy in a statement, citing a social media post the Texas Republican published last June that lauded the president’s negotiating skills during talks over raising the debt limit.
“But in private, White House officials argue that he effectively out-negotiated the GOP, agreeing to small, near-term concessions in exchange for preserving a litany of major economic investments that make up the core of his case for reelection. They also note that the debt ceiling won’t need to be negotiated again until after Biden’s name is on the ballot one final time — effectively removing the main leverage point Republicans had,” former Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) said on X, which Roy retweeted, writing, “Correct.”
“One year ago Congressman Roy agreed that President Biden ‘effectively out-negotiated the GOP,’ after then-Speaker McCarthy said that in those same negotiations President Biden was ‘Very professional, very smart, very tough at the same time.’ And that’s a trend: President Biden publicly out-negotiated congressional Republicans in his last two State of the Union addresses,” Bates said in a statement. “So it makes perfect sense that Congressman Roy would be threatened by the most legislatively-accomplished Democratic President in modern history.”
Emily Brooks, Brett Samuels and Alex Gangitano contributed.
Updated at 6:31 p.m.
