United States
The Vice President of the United States is, ex officio, President of the United States Senate, with the power to cast tie-breaking votes. However, while the Vice President has the right to act as presiding officer over the Senate, the rules of the Senate give that office very little power (in contrast to the powerful office of Speaker of the House), and in practice it is often exercised by one of the most junior Senators in attendance.
While vice presidents used to regularly preside over the Senate, modern vice presidents have done so only rarely—vice presidents usually only preside to swear in new senators, during joint sessions, and when casting a tie-breaking vote. The Senate chooses a president pro tempore to preside in the vice president's absence. Modern presidents pro tempore, too, rarely preside over the Senate. In practice, the junior senators of the majority party typically preside in order to learn Senate procedure.
The current Vice President of the United States and President of the United States Senate is Joe Biden.
Only once in U.S. history has the Vice President been elected to represent a different political party from that of the President. In 1796, Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson was elected vice president and Federalist John Adams President; a situation that in part prompted the later adoption of the Twelfth Amendment to prevent such a situation from reoccurring. In addition, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson were elected together on the National Union ticket in the 1864 presidential election, although Lincoln came from the Republican Party and Johnson was a War Democrat.
The vice president holds a tie-breaking (or "casting") vote in the Senate. Vice presidents have cast 242 tie-breaking votes. The vice president with the most tie breaking votes is John Adams with 29.
Read more about this topic: President Of The Senate
Famous quotes related to united states:
“Falling in love with a United States Senator is a splendid ordeal. One is nestled snugly into the bosom of power but also placed squarely in the hazardous path of exposure.”
—Barbara Howar (b. 1934)
“Madam, I may be President of the United States, but my private life is nobody’s damn business.”
—Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886)
“In one notable instance, where the United States Army and a hundred years of persuasion failed, a highway has succeeded. The Seminole Indians surrendered to the Tamiami Trail. From the Everglades the remnants of this race emerged, soon after the trail was built, to set up their palm-thatched villages along the road and to hoist tribal flags as a lure to passing motorists.”
—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother’s side was not an Indian chief.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“The United States have a coffle of four millions of slaves. They are determined to keep them in this condition; and Massachusetts is one of the confederated overseers to prevent their escape.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)