Diane Feinstein had difficulty casting a voice vote. Mitch McConell froze up for what seemed like an eternity in front of a gaggle of reporters. Incidents like these have many people wondering if members of Congress are staying in office too long. The Senate currently has five active members over the age of 80 while the House has 15. Californians are already having open discussions regarding who will replace Senator Feinstein, even though she has yet to announce her retirement and reports of her death are greatly exaggerated.
One policy institute thinks they have a solution. “We desperately need to bring back cigarette smoking and hard drinking among our congressional leaders,” says R. J. Morris of the Center for Integrated Solutions or CIGS. “In the past when Congress partied like it was 1979, heart attacks, strokes and terminal illnesses would cut short most politicians’ ability to serve beyond 70 years old. Now lawmakers think they’re just hitting their legislative prime when they reach 70.”
Many are skeptical that bringing back the smoke-filled rooms and alcohol-soaked bull sessions constitutes a viable path forward. They also point to CIGS receiving a bulk of its funding from the tobacco and spirits industries as a reason to question their motives. That’s why some experts have proposed term limits as a more realistic solution.
“Congress isn’t going to vote to term limit itself. The job is too lucrative. No, the only path forward is to get them hooked on smoking, and if they won’t smoke voluntarily, then we’re just going to have to pump second hand smoke into their congressional chamber. The myriad of health problems that can be achieved is only limited by our ability to imagine what is possible,” Morris says.
If there is something 