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1 1 (June 23, 2003)

handle is hein.crs/crsuntaaaxy0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS21553 June 23, 2003 Presiding Officer: Senate Colton C. Campbell Analyst in American National Government Government & Finance Division Summary The Constitution designates the Vice President of the United States as the presiding officer of the Senate and further provides that in the absence of the Vice President, the Senate may elect a President pro tempore, who by custom, is usually the most senior senator of the majority party, to perform the duties of the chair. In daily practice, however, the duties and functions of the chair are carried out by an acting President pro tempore, and temporary presiding officers, often junior Senators, who rotate in the chair for shifts of generally one hour each. Since 1977, only majority-party Senators have been appointed to preside over the Senate, except during the power-sharing period of the 107th Congress (2001-2002), when chamber control was evenly divided. This report will be updated as warranted. Election and Historical Position of President of Senate The Senate does not elect its regular presiding officer.1 Rather, the President of the Senate (Vice President of the United States) and the President pro tempore are made the Senate's presiding officers by Article I, Section III, of the Constitution, which provides that the Vice President shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided; and the Senate shall choose.., a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States. For most of its first century, the Senate filled the post of President pro tempore on a temporary basis, whenever the Vice President was not present. By 1890, the Senate began the practice of the President pro tempore holding office continuously until the Congressional Research Service + The Library of Congress CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web 1 Floyd M. Riddick and Alan S. Fruhin, Riddick's Senate Pracedure: Precedents and Practices (Washington: GPO, 1992).

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