Republicans are renewing calls for constitutional changes to address prolonged incapacity in Congress, as questions surrounding Senator Mitch McConnell’s health continue more than five weeks after he was admitted to hospital. Thirty-nine days after the 84-year-old Kentucky senator was hospitalised and largely disappeared from public view, some Republicans have revived proposals for congressional term limits and new mechanisms to replace lawmakers who are medically unable to carry out their duties.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a long-time supporter of term limits, said the Senate “looks like an old folks home”, arguing that some politicians remain in office long after they are able to serve effectively.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz said he had previously introduced a constitutional amendment to limit senators to two six-year terms and members of the House of Representatives to three two-year terms.
Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky also weighed into the debate, joking that Congress needed a “three strokes and you’re out” rule.
Tennessee Representative Tim Burchett called for an “incapacitation clause” in the Constitution that would allow lawmakers who are medically unable to perform their duties to be replaced. “I think it needs to happen yesterday,” he told independent journalist Desirée Townsend. “It’s pathetic.”
The US Constitution currently contains no provision allowing elected members of Congress to be removed because of prolonged medical incapacity.
McConnell, who has represented Kentucky in the Senate since 1985, has experienced several falls in recent years and has twice frozen during public appearances.
He has not voted in the Senate since being admitted to George Washington University Hospital on 14 June, missing dozens of votes while his office has declined to provide detailed updates on his condition. His prolonged absence has fuelled speculation online, with critics accusing his office of withholding information.
Videos posted on X by reporter Nicholas Ballasy show McConnell’s communications director, Stephanie Penn, declining to answer questions about the senator’s health.
A separate video shows his chief of staff, Terry Carmack, also remaining silent when asked whether more information should be released. “Do you think he should produce more information?” Ballasy asks in one exchange. “Anything you can say, sir, about the situation? His constituents are wondering and there’s all kinds of things going around social media…”
McConnell was taken to hospital on 14 June after a 911 call reported that he had suffered what was believed to be a heart attack, lost consciousness and received CPR. His office later said he had fallen, briefly lost consciousness and subsequently developed mild pneumonia before being transferred to rehabilitation.
On 12 July, the senator’s team released a photograph of him alongside his wife, former US Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, describing it as an update on his recovery.