Current Order
This is a list of the current presidential line of succession, as specified by the United States Constitution and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 as subsequently amended to include newly created cabinet offices.
| Key | Democrat = (D) |
|---|---|
| Republican = (R) | |
| Independent = (I) |
| # | Office | Current officer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vice President of the United States | Joe Biden (D) |
| 2 | Speaker of the House | John Boehner (R) |
| 3 | President pro tempore of the Senate | Patrick Leahy (D) |
| 4 | Secretary of State | Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) |
| 5 | Secretary of the Treasury | Timothy Geithner (I) |
| 6 | Secretary of Defense | Leon Panetta (D) |
| 7 | Attorney General | Eric Holder (D) |
| 8 | Secretary of the Interior | Ken Salazar (D) |
| 9 | Secretary of Agriculture | Tom Vilsack (D) |
| -- | Acting Secretary of Commerce | Rebecca Blank (D) |
| 10 | Secretary of Labor | Hilda Solis (D) |
| 11 | Secretary of Health and Human Services | Kathleen Sebelius (D) |
| 12 | Secretary of Housing and Urban Development | Shaun Donovan (D) |
| 13 | Secretary of Transportation | Ray LaHood (R) |
| 14 | Secretary of Energy | Steven Chu (D) |
| 15 | Secretary of Education | Arne Duncan (D) |
| 16 | Secretary of Veterans Affairs | Eric Shinseki* |
| 17 | Secretary of Homeland Security | Janet Napolitano (D) |
*Eric Shinseki, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, has no known party affiliation.
Read more about this topic: United States Presidential Succession
Famous quotes containing the words current and/or order:
“We set up a certain aim, and put ourselves of our own will into the power of a certain current. Once having done that, we find ourselves committed to usages and customs which we had not before fully known, but from which we cannot depart without giving up the end which we have chosen. But we have no right, therefore, to claim that we are under the yoke of necessity. We might as well say that the man whom we see struggling vainly in the current of Niagara could not have helped jumping in.”
—Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911)
“There is no instant of time when one creature is not being devoured by another. Over all these numerous races of animals man is placed, and his destructive hand spares nothing that lives. He kills to obtain food and he kills to clothe himself; he kills to adorn himself; he kills in order to attack and he kills to defend himself; he kills to instruct himself and he kills to amuse himself; he kills to kill. Proud and terrible king, he wants everything and nothing resists him.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)