Haley: The Senate is the ‘most privileged nursing home in the country’

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Thursday called the Senate “the most privileged nursing home in the country.”

In response to a question about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) apparently freezing up while taking questions Wednesday in Covington, Ky., Haley said on Fox News that the Kentucky senator has “done some great things, and he deserves credit,” but emphasized that “you have to know when to leave.”

“No one should feel good about seeing that, any more than we should feel good about seeing [California Democratic Sen.] Dianne Feinstein, any more than we should feel good about a lot of what’s happening or seeing [President] Joe Biden’s decline,” Haley said. “What I will say is, right now, the Senate is the most privileged nursing home in the country.”

Wednesday was the second time in a matter of weeks McConnell has frozen while talking to reporters, with his aides saying he was merely lightheaded. The episodes, along with Feinstein’s apparent bouts of confusion in the Capitol, have highlighted concerns about the advanced age of some of the Senate’s leaders.

Haley has called for mandatory “mental competency tests” for politicians older than 75, and for term limits for Congress. 

“I think that we do need mental competency tests for anyone over the age of 75, I wouldn’t care if they did them over the age of 50,” Haley said. “But these are people making decisions on our national security. They’re making decisions on our economy, on the border. We need to know they’re at the top of their game.”