Congress is Heaven's Waiting Room

The big political news last week was the passing of Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina at age 71 of a brief illness.

This has, once again, focused the country's attention on our flailing gerontocracy.

The scandal is that more than a third of U.S. senators are 70 or older.

Including the House, over a quarter of Congress is now over 70 years old.

Now think about that.

That 136 of the 535 members of Congress are over 70 years old.

That's not normal.

Across other Western democracies, that percent is closer to 4%.

Now, since we have a seniority system in Congress, the leadership, that is the most powerful members of Congress, are also the oldest.

On the Democratic side, the average age of committee leaders is 70.

The average.

The Republican average is a bit lower because their caucus rules include some six-year committee chair term limits, which helps.

Now, keep in mind, the median retirement age in the U.S. is 62 years old.

So the death of Senator Graham at age 71 is not unusual.

And how could it be? And actually, he was relatively young.

Over the last few years, we've seen several deaths and even more cases of physical and mental decline in the U.S. Congress.

Last month, 84-year-old Senator Mitch McConnell was hospitalized.

Now, no one knew where he was at first, and I'm not convinced he knew where he was.

It turns out he had a fall and was recovering from pneumonia.

Recall Senator McConnell's public confusion on more than one occasion when he simply froze in public.

Last year, as Elena Hsiao of the New York Times reminds us, three House Democrats died in the span of three months.

Sylvester Turner of Texas, age 70, Raul Grijalva of Arizona, 77, and Gerald Connolly of Virginia, 75.

And in April this year, Democrat David Scott of Georgia died at age 80 after facing scrutiny with his own party for his refusal to exit politics amid a series of health issues.

So the gerontocracy is a real problem with, fortunately, a simple solution.

Term limits.

The big political news last week was the passing of Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina at age 71 of a brief illness.

This has, once again, focused the country's attention on our flailing gerontocracy.

The scandal is that more than a third of U.S. senators are 70 or older.

Including the House, over a quarter of Congress is now over 70 years old.

Now think about that.

That 136 of the 535 members of Congress are over 70 years old.

That's not normal.

Across other Western democracies, that percent is closer to 4%.

Now, since we have a seniority system in Congress, the leadership, that is the most powerful members of Congress, are also the oldest.

On the Democratic side, the average age of committee leaders is 70.

The average.

The Republican average is a bit lower because their caucus rules include some six-year committee chair term limits, which helps.

Now, keep in mind, the median retirement age in the U.S. is 62 years old.

So the death of Senator Graham at age 71 is not unusual.

And how could it be? And actually, he was relatively young.

Over the last few years, we've seen several deaths and even more cases of physical and mental decline in the U.S. Congress.

Last month, 84-year-old Senator Mitch McConnell was hospitalized.

Now, no one knew where he was at first, and I'm not convinced he knew where he was.

It turns out he had a fall and was recovering from pneumonia.

Recall Senator McConnell's public confusion on more than one occasion when he simply froze in public.

Last year, as Elena Hsiao of the New York Times reminds us, three House Democrats died in the span of three months.

Sylvester Turner of Texas, age 70, Raul Grijalva of Arizona, 77, and Gerald Connolly of Virginia, 75.

And in April this year, Democrat David Scott of Georgia died at age 80 after facing scrutiny with his own party for his refusal to exit politics amid a series of health issues.

So the gerontocracy is a real problem with, fortunately, a simple solution.

Term limits.