Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.) has introduced a bill that would create a congressional oversight commission that could declare the president incapacitated, leading to his removal from office under the Constitution's 25th Amendment.
Twenty-four House Democrats are now backing the bill, including the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers (D., Mich.), Yahoo News reported Friday.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D., Fla.), the former chair of the Democratic National Committee, is also co-sponsoring the legislation.
The support from top Democrats for the bill comes despite House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and other Democratic leaders telling more ardent members of their caucus to stop talk of impeaching President Donald Trump.
"In case of emergency, break glass," Raskin told Yahoo News in an interview. "If you look at the record of things that have happened since January, it is truly a bizarre litany of events and outbursts."
Raskin has expressed these concerns in recent months, suggesting in May that Trump does not have the mental capacity to serve as president and should be impeached.
Trump's mental incapacity is no laughing matter. #25thAmendment gives us a way to deal with this problem. #OCPCAct https://t.co/5sc6lINUf2
— Rep. Jamie Raskin (@RepRaskin) May 13, 2017
Raskin's bill calls for the creation of an "Oversight Commission on Presidential Capacity." The panel would be nonpartisan, with members appointed by congressional leaders and composed of four physicians, four psychiatrists, and three others—such as former presidents, vice presidents, or other former senior U.S. government officials.
Raskin told Yahoo News that he has been getting increased interest from colleagues for his bill, including some Republicans who have approached him about it.
If Congress did create the body specified in Raskin's bill, it would not be able to declare the president "unable to discharge the powers and duties" of the office without the concurrence of the vice president, due to the language of the 25th Amendment.