Posted by
JP on Friday, October 03, 2008 12:53:01 PM
Immediately following the Veep debate, I started surfing the cable news channels for the pulse and talking points by the MSM and the party pendants of both sides. It didn’t take me long to find them.
Aside from the fact that everyone was trying to downplay Gov. Palin’s performance as anything other than a success, I noticed that everyone was all abuzz over her comments regarding the Vice Presidential duties and powers set forth by the constitution as President of the Senate. Needless to say, the blogosphere is red hot on this topic and it is my pleasure to enlighten everyone on this issue.
It seems many of our friends on the left want to point to Article 1, Sec.3 of the Constitution as proof that the Vice President is nothing more than a secondary vote in the event of a tie.
Really? Let’s look at this in more detail.
Art.1 – Section 3
The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.
…So far so good. Let’s continue….
The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States.
…. Oops. That put an end to that argument.
So, “in the absence of the Vice President” the President pro tempore shall preside over the Senate. Considering that the legal definition of pro tempore is “for the time being” or “in the absence of” the Vice President, it is obvious that the position was originally designed to have much more interaction and influence on the Senate floor.
The Vice President is the President of the Senate, and thus, has the power to preside over any session of the Senate. This means that that first statement regarding a tie breaking vote is not the only responsibility of the Vice President. In fact, it is more a statement of the VP’s limitations of duty rather than the solitary responsibility.
For those of you that are still not convinced, lets look at another example. Up until the 1950’s, the Vice President’s primary office and daily duties were conducted on Capitol Hill, not in the Executive Office. In fact, the VP still has an office on the hill.
Want more proof? If the VP was an extension of the Executive branch, it goes to reason that this position would fall under the fiscal responsibility of that branch of government. However, contrary to this point, the Vice President is paid by Congress, just like the Senators and Representatives.
The argument that the Vice President has no power over the Senate is simply not supported by the Constitution or by prior precedent.
Game…. Set….. Match.