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 hear the haunting presentiment of a dutiful middle age in the current reluctance of young people to select any option except the one they feel will impinge upon them the least.”
—Gail Sheehy (b. 1937)
“In order to succeed in a profession, a person not only needs to have its good, but also its bad qualities. The former are the spirit, the latter is the body of the job.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)