Regular duties
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As President of the Senate ([[Article One of the United States Constitution#Clause 4: Vice President as President of Senate|Article I, Section 3, Clause 4]]), the vice president oversees procedural matters and may [[U.S. Vice President's tie-breaking votes|cast a tie-breaking vote]]. There is a strong convention within the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] that the vice president should not use their position as President of the Senate to influence the passage of legislation or act in a partisan manner, except in the case of breaking tie votes. As President of the Senate, [[John Adams]] cast twenty-nine [[U.S. Vice President's tie-breaking votes|tie-breaking votes]], a record no successor except [[John C. Calhoun]] ever threatened. Adams's votes protected the president's sole authority over the removal of appointees, influenced the location of the national capital, and prevented war with [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]. On at least one occasion Adams persuaded senators to vote against legislation he opposed, and he frequently addressed the Senate on procedural and policy matters. Adams's political views and his active role in the Senate made him a natural target for critics of [[George Washington]]'s administration. Toward the end of his first term, a threatened resolution that would have silenced him except for procedural and policy matters caused him to exercise more restraint in hopes of seeing his election as President of the United States. |
As President of the Senate ([[Article One of the United States Constitution#Clause 4: Vice President as President of Senate|Article I, Section 3, Clause 4]]), the vice president oversees procedural matters and may [[U.S. Vice President's tie-breaking votes|cast a tie-breaking vote]]. There is a strong convention within the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] that the vice president should not use their position as President of the Senate to influence the passage of legislation or act in a partisan manner, except in the case of breaking tie votes. As President of the Senate, [[John Adams]] cast twenty-nine [[U.S. Vice President's tie-breaking votes|tie-breaking votes]], a record no successor except [[John C. Calhoun]] ever threatened. Adams's votes protected the president's sole authority over the removal of appointees, influenced the location of the national capital, and prevented war with [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]. On at least one occasion Adams persuaded senators to vote against legislation he opposed, and he frequently addressed the Senate on procedural and policy matters. Adams's political views and his active role in the Senate made him a natural target for critics of [[George Washington]]'s administration. Toward the end of his first term, a threatened resolution that would have silenced him except for procedural and policy matters caused him to exercise more restraint in hopes of seeing his election as President of the United States. |
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| − | + | Formerly, the vice president would preside regularly over Senate proceedings, but in modern times, the vice president rarely presides over day-to-day matters in the Senate; in their place, the Senate chooses a [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore]] (or "president for a time") to preside in the vice president's absence; the Senate normally selects the longest-serving senator in the majority party. The President pro tempore has the power to appoint any other senator to preside and in practice, junior senators from the majority party are assigned the task of presiding over the Senate at most times. |
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Except for this tie-breaking role, the ''Standing Rules of the Senate'' vest ''no'' significant responsibilities in the vice president. [[Standing Rules of the Senate Rule XIX|Rule XIX]], which governs debate, does not authorize the vice president to participate in debate, and grants only to members of the Senate (and, upon appropriate notice, former presidents of the United States) the privilege of addressing the Senate, without granting a similar privilege to the sitting vice president. Thus, as ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine wrote during the controversial tenure of Vice President [[Charles G. Dawes]], "once in four years the Vice President can make a little speech, and then he is done. For four years he then has to sit in the seat of the silent, attending to speeches ponderous or otherwise, of deliberation or humor."<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,786539,00.html President Dawes]," Time Magazine, December 14, 1924.</ref> |
Except for this tie-breaking role, the ''Standing Rules of the Senate'' vest ''no'' significant responsibilities in the vice president. [[Standing Rules of the Senate Rule XIX|Rule XIX]], which governs debate, does not authorize the vice president to participate in debate, and grants only to members of the Senate (and, upon appropriate notice, former presidents of the United States) the privilege of addressing the Senate, without granting a similar privilege to the sitting vice president. Thus, as ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine wrote during the controversial tenure of Vice President [[Charles G. Dawes]], "once in four years the Vice President can make a little speech, and then he is done. For four years he then has to sit in the seat of the silent, attending to speeches ponderous or otherwise, of deliberation or humor."<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,786539,00.html President Dawes]," Time Magazine, December 14, 1924.</ref> |
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