Historical Record Shows Congress Doesn’t Get Rid of Members In Ill Health

Brian Zick

Think Progress catches Fox News salivating at Tim Johnson's "incapacitation" and eagerly speculating about his replacement by a Republican. Jonathan Singer at MyDD, however, provides a list of some explicitly relevant historical precedents, all of which show that unless a sitting member of Congress is actually dead or in a coma there has never been an action by House or Senate to forcibly expel a member suffering from health-related incapacity. A number of members have served several years despite suffering severely debilitating infirmities.

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