(Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said her boss Joe Biden has been "extremely effective" in lengthy meetings that they've both attended, in response to a question during a House hearing about the president's mental acuity.
"The president is extremely effective in the meetings that I've been in with him," Yellen told lawmakers on the House Financial Services Committee in Washington on Tuesday. "That includes many international meetings that are multi-hour," like sessions with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders.
She was responding to a question from Mike Lawler, a New York Republican, who asked whether Yellen had noticed any signs of mental or cognitive decline in the president. Yellen said she wouldn't comment on her own meetings with Biden because "those are private," and she said there's been no discussion among Cabinet members about invoking the 25th amendment of the US constitution, which covers the potential removal of a president due to disability.
Biden's health has been front and center of US politics since his faltering performance in a debate with Republican candidate Donald Trump late last month, which triggered calls from some Democrats for the president to pull out of the race. Biden said this week he won't step aside.
Lawler's question triggered a brief argument during the House hearing, which was supposed to focus primarily on global economic issues, with one lawmaker protesting that the Treasury chief is "not a doctor" and seeking to get the comments struck from the record. Republican committee member Blaine Luetkemeyer then warned other attendees that such questions weren't appropriate for Tuesday's hearing.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
