House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin introduced a bill this week to establish a 17-member commission under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, authorising Congress to independently assess whether President Trump is fit to discharge his duties.
The bill has attracted over 85 Democratic co-sponsors across both the House and Senate, reflecting the cumulative frustration within the party over Trump’s handling of the Iran war and his public warnings about “civilisations dying.”
Raskin said in a statement that the Constitution “explicitly vests Congress with the authority to create a body that will guarantee the successful continuity of government” and described the legislation as a “solemn duty.”
The White House dismissed the effort immediately, with spokesperson Davis Ingle calling Raskin “a stupid person’s idea of a smart person” and contrasting Trump’s “sharpness and unmatched energy” with Democrats’ handling of Biden’s public decline.
The bill faces near-certain procedural failure given Republican control of Congress, and would require two-thirds majorities in both chambers to achieve permanent removal even if the commission declared the president unfit.
It functions primarily as a political pressure instrument and a statement of record rather than a genuine legislative pathway, but it reflects a Democratic caucus becoming increasingly willing to deploy drastic constitutional tools as rhetorical weapons.
Meanwhile, the Ethics Committee sanction hearing for Florida Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is scheduled for today, with the panel having found her guilty of multiple campaign finance violations and House Republicans expected to file a resolution to expel her afterwards.
Cherfilus-McCormick said in a statement that she has no intention of resigning, saying “this is not the time to abandon the district, especially when they too are fighting for their future.”
The convergence of a potential ceasefire collapse with a congressional expulsion fight and a live 25th Amendment bill is producing one of the most compressed and consequential days in Washington since the war began.
Both political parties are navigating a public that polls show broadly disapproves of the Iran conflict, with Trump’s approval rating for his handling of the war described by multiple outlets as running at historically low levels for a wartime president.
