Chuck Grassley President Pro Tempore Of US Senate

The Urgent Need For Generational Change In Congress

Ronald 7 Comments

Both houses of Congress are overly “elderly”, and polls indicate Americans want an age cap and term limits, in order to modernize the institution, and make it relevant to the younger generations which feel they are not adequately represented.

The average member of the House of Representatives is 58, and in the Senate, it is 65, and the present Congress is the third oldest in US history.

Fortunately, some members who are elderly are retiring, and a few have passed away, but still there are cases of members who simply do not believe in the concept of retirement.

So we have Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, nearing age 93 in September, who is Senate President Pro Tempore, third in line of Presidential succession, who would have become President if a horrible tragedy had occurred at the recent White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in late April.

There are some members of Congress who are effective at an advanced age, but public office should not be a lifetime job, and it would inspire more younger Americans to vote if they could see people they can relate to, in public office.

An age limit of 75 seems reasonable, and thankfully, there are younger contenders running for election in the Midterm Elections of 2026, as this blogger has written about before.

Hopefully, there will be a “youth wave” moving forward, and many of these seekers of becoming part of Congress succeed in November.

Dangerous To Have Presidential Succession Group In One Place Off Government Protected Buildings, As Occurred At Washington Hilton Hotel!

Ronald 10 Comments

The horrifying incident of a gunman at the Washington Hilton Hotel during the White House Correspondents Association Annual Dinner was more than just a threat to the President of the United States and the 2,500 guests, many of them journalists.

It also was the reality that MOST of the group under the 1947 Presidential Succession Act were also there, truly a dangerous and unacceptable scenario.

13 members of the Presidential succession were at the event, including Vice President JD Vance and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

But also almost all of the Cabinet Officers were present, leaving an alarming situation.

The only people under the Presidential Succession Act NOT present were:

President Pro Tempore of the Senate Chuck Grassley of Iowa, nearing age 93;

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins;

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick;

The two “Acting” Secretaries–Attorney General Todd Blanche, and Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling were there, who some observers would say are not eligible to succeed to the Presidency, as they have not been selected yet as the successors in those posts, and have not been confirmed.

Also, it is unclear if Scott Turner, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Doug Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs were present at the event.

There was no formal “Designated Survivor” chosen before the event in case of a tragedy.

Never again can the federal government allow even the unlikely scenario that occurred on April 25 to happen again.