President Pro Tempore Of The United States Senate
The President pro tempore ( /ˌproʊ ˈtɛmpəriː/ or /ˌproʊ ˈtɛmpəreɪ/), also president pro tem, is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate. The United States Constitution states that the Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate, despite not being a member of the body, and that the Senate must choose a president pro tempore. By a long-standing tradition which has been observed consistently since the 81st Congress, the president pro tempore is the most senior senator in the majority party.
During the Vice President's absence, the president pro tempore is empowered to preside over Senate sessions but usually appoints another senator to do so. In practice, neither the Vice President nor the President pro tempore usually presides; instead, the duty of presiding officer is rotated among junior senators of the majority party to give them experience in parliamentary procedure.
The president pro tempore is third in the line of succession to the presidency, after the Vice President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Daniel Inouye, a Democrat and senior senator from Hawaii, is the current president pro tempore.
Read more about President Pro Tempore Of The United States Senate: Power and Responsibilities, History, Salary
Famous quotes containing the words president, pro, united, states and/or senate:
“Colonel “Bat” Guano: Okay, I’m going to get your money for you. But if you don’t get the President of the United States on that phone, you know what’s going to happen to you?
Group Captain Lionel Mandrake: What?
Colonel “Bat” Guano: You’re going to have to answer to the Coca-Cola company.”
—Stanley Kubrick (b. 1928)
“The upbeat lawyer/negotiator of preadolescence has become a real pro by now—cynical, shrewd, a tough cookie. You’re constantly embroiled in a match of wits. You’re exhausted.”
—Ron Taffel (20th century)
“... it is probable that in a fit of generosity the men of the United States would have enfranchised its women en masse; and the government now staggering under the ballots of ignorant, irresponsible men, must have gone down under the additional burden of the votes which would have been thrown upon it, by millions of ignorant, irresponsible women.”
—Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815–1884)
“On 16 September 1985, when the Commerce Department announced that the United States had become a debtor nation, the American Empire died.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)
“It took six weeks of debate in the Senate to get the Arms Embargo Law repealed—and we face other delays during the present session because most of the Members of the Congress are thinking in terms of next Autumn’s election. However, that is one of the prices that we who live in democracies have to pay. It is, however, worth paying, if all of us can avoid the type of government under which the unfortunate population of Germany and Russia must exist.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)