[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 114 (Wednesday, July 10, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H4534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        BIDEN FITNESS COMPLICITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Rose) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, as much as the White House would like to move 
on from the terrible debate performance we saw less than 2 weeks ago, 
it is still on the minds of many Americans, including my own. Like 
many, I am not only concerned about who is in the Oval Office in 2025, 
but I am concerned about the weeks and months between now and 
Inauguration Day.
  The American people deserve to know their Commander in Chief can do 
the job. They deserve to know why he requires pictures of stages and 
podiums before he attends events. They deserve to have their many, many 
questions answered.
  Unfortunately, President Biden has decided that one recorded, in-
person interview and a politically charged letter will suffice.
  We would be well served not to forget Special Counsel Robert Hur's 
report from February describing the President's memory as significantly 
limited. More importantly, we must not forget his conclusion that a 
potential trial over the President's apparently intentional illegal 
possession of classified documents would result in a jury essentially 
feeling bad for a forgetful old man.
  Following that frank and damning report, the President's chief of 
staff responded by saying: No one works harder and asks tougher 
questions than the President.
  In hindsight, it appears he was willing to surrender his personal 
credibility in an attempt to keep the President's cognitive maladies 
hidden. Mitch Landrieu, national co-chair of the Biden campaign, said 
of the President: ``He's on his game.''
  Again, in hindsight, perhaps the game he was referring to might have 
been shuffleboard.
  Weeks before the debate, we saw the headline ``Biden Appears to 
Freeze,'' detailing an event from the White House. We have endured 3\1/
2\ years of similar stories.
  Just days into his Presidency, The New York Times published a story 
titled: ``The Many Ways That Joe Biden Trips Over His Own Tongue.''
  In May of 2022, The Washington Post published an article titled: 
``Three theories on Biden's repeated Taiwan gaffes.''
  The one I remember most is from Reuters 2 years ago which reads: 
``Gaffe or insight? Deciphering Biden's unguarded answers.''
  The American people should not have to decipher anything, Mr. 
Speaker. I, along with many of the Tennesseans I represent, believe we 
are still the shining city on a hill that Ronald Reagan referenced.
  In this country, the First Amendment enables us to ask frank 
questions. In this country, we hold our elected officials to account.
  Many of us remember 2 months before the debate when the President 
literally read the words: ``Four more years. Pause'' at an event.
  We also recall this year when President Biden mistakenly claimed he 
was Vice President during the pandemic.
  I, along with many other Members of the House of Representatives on 
our side of the aisle, have expressed our serious concerns with what 
strongly appears to be a debilitating, cognitive decline for quite a 
while now. Yet, those concerns were dismissed by the mainstream media 
as rightwing propaganda for all these years, and Congressional 
Democrats made similar allegations or remained silent altogether. They 
all knew these concerns with the President's cognitive limitations were 
credible.
  Now, since the debate, the American people share these concerns, too. 
They are used to worrying about the consequences of the open-border 
policies of this administration and the crippling inflation that the 
administration's policies have produced, but now they are also 
concerned about whether he can even withstand the job itself.
  Since the debate, we have heard nothing but weak excuses: a cold, a 
lack of sleep, jet lag from travel that took place 15 days before. The 
list continues to grow.
  Those who have spread the notion that President Biden is as sharp as 
a tack and at the top of his game will have to answer for this big 
coverup. Indeed, they are complicit in the credible anxiety that the 
American people feel.
  If we suffer a major national security incident which our impaired 
President fails to handle properly, they will be complicit in something 
much worse.

                              {time}  1030

  Mr. Speaker, it is past time for our President to pass the baton on 
to another and for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who 
have helped to perpetuate this coverup to switch course and do the 
right thing.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in personalities toward the President.

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