Nikki Haley takes aim at a basketball during a carnival game during the campaign at the Iowa State Fair in August. Photo: EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/REUTERS
The US Senate is «the most privileged nursing home in the country,» said Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley.
Ms. Haley, 51, stepped up her attacks on aging US politicians days after 81-year-old Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to stiffen during a press conference in Kentucky.
The former governor of South Carolina has already called on politicians over 75 to take intelligence tests, and the US is gearing up for a rematch between Donald Trump, 77, and Joe Biden, 80, for the presidency.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and Transportation Elaine Chao, at an event in Kentucky in August. Credit : Ryan K. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader
Ms. Haley's latest remarks in an interview with Fox News Thursday rekindled a growing debate over the composition of a Senate that often serves for decades.
Aides said, that Senator McConnell, the fourth oldest current member of the Senate, continued his schedule.
They explained that his discomfort earlier this week was due to «occasional dizziness» due to dehydration and a previous concussion. >
It was the second time in a little over a month that he froze during a public appearance. In late July, he had to be escorted by his Senate colleagues to an event at the US Capitol.
“Mitch McConnell has done some great things and he deserves credit,” Ms. Haley said.
“But you need to know when to leave. No one should feel good seeing this,” she said of the incident.
“Just like we shouldn’t feel good seeing Dianne Feinstein, just like we shouldn’t feel good from a lot of things going on or seeing Joe Biden's demise.»
Feinstein, 90, a Democratic Senator from California, spent three months away from Congress while recovering from shingles. She is due to retire at the end of next year.
“These people make decisions about our national security. They make decisions about our economy, at the border,” added Ms. Haley.
“We need to know that they are at the top of their game. You can't say that right now looking at Congress.»
Senator Diane Feinstein is again accepted on the Senate Judiciary Committee in May after a two-month absence. Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Ms. Haley, also a former US ambassador to the UN, is not the only politician who questions what some call gerontocracy in American politics.
Congresswoman- Democrat Dean Phillips said it was time for Biden to pass the baton to the next generation and called on others to enter the presidential race. Polls also show public anxiety.
A CBS poll last year found that nearly three-quarters of voters supported a maximum age limit for elected officials, with 40 percent of voters calling for a 70-year-old ceiling for politicians.
The current Senate is the third oldest in American history, with at least 10 members aged 76 or older.
Chuck Grassley of Iowa will turn 90 in September, and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is a year older than Senator McConnell.
Senator Chuck Grassley at the Iowa State Fair in August Photo: EVELYN HOCKSHTEIN/REUTERS
Senators have been in power for decades. Senator Feinstein won a sixth term at age 85 in 2018, and in 2021 she dismissed suggestions that she was too old, telling reporters they were making molehills out of molehills.
The party's oldest member stories. The Senate was Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who in June 2003, while still in office, reached the 100th.
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