Vice President Joe Biden Catch All

[Texsox]

Not a lot for him to do.

 

Roles of the Vice President

The Constitution limits the formal powers and role of Vice President to becoming President should the President become unable to serve (due to the death, resignation, or medical impairment of the President), and to acting as the presiding officer of the U.S. Senate.

 

 

[edit] President of the United States Senate

As President of the Senate, the Vice President has two primary duties: to cast a vote in the event of a Senate deadlock and to preside over and certify the official vote count of the U.S. Electoral College. For example, in the first half of 2001, the Senators were divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats and Dick Cheney's tie-breaking vote gave the Republicans the Senate majority. (See 107th United States Congress.)

 

 

[edit] Regular duties

As President of the Senate (Article I, Section 3, Clause 4), the Vice President oversees procedural matters and may cast a tie-breaking vote. There is a strong convention within the U.S. Senate that the Vice President not use his 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 tie-breaking votes, a record that no successor except for 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 Great Britain. On at least one occasion Adams persuaded senators to vote against legislation that 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, as a result of a threatened resolution that would have silenced him except for procedural and policy matters, he began to exercise more restraint in the hope of realizing the goal shared by many of his successors: election in his own right as President of the United States.

 

In modern times, the Vice President rarely presides over day-to-day matters in the Senate; in his place, the Senate chooses a 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.

 

Except for this tie-breaking role, the Standing Rules of the Senate vest no significant responsibilities in the Vice President. 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 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."^[12]

 

 

[edit] Recurring, infrequent duties

The President of the Senate also presides over counting and presentation of the votes of the Electoral College. This process occurs in the presence of both houses of Congress, generally on January 6 of the year following a U.S. presidential election.^[13] In this capacity, only four Vice Presidents have been able to announce their own election to the presidency: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van Buren, and George H. W. Bush. At the beginning of 1961, it fell to Richard Nixon to preside over this process, which officially announced the election of his 1960 opponent, John F. Kennedy. In 2001, Al Gore announced the election of his opponent, George W. Bush. In 1969, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey would have announced the election of his opponent, Richard Nixon; however, on the date of the Congressional joint session (January 6), Humphrey was in Norway attending the funeral of Trygve Lie, the first elected Secretary-General of the United Nations.^[14]

 

The President of the Senate may also preside over most of the impeachment trials of federal officers. However, whenever the President is impeached, the US Constitution requires the Chief Justice of the United States to preside over the Senate for the trial. The Constitution is silent as to the presiding officer in the instance where the Vice-President is the officer impeached.

[StrangeSox]

If we could rate threads here, I'd rate this a 5.

[Texsox]

The only day this week our VP had anything on his agenda was Monday. Whew, what a pace he keeps

8:00 AM The Vice President hosts a breakfast meeting with Representative Steny Hoyer 9:15 AM The Vice President meets with Senator John Kerry 1:00 PM Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs 5:00 PM The Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden host a Thanksgiving dinner for Wounded Warriors and families of veterans and servicemembers being treated at area military hospitals

 

 

And he gets the rest of the week off. I'd sure like to know the details of that meeting with John Kerry.

 

[Texsox]

Last weeks was a real back breaker as well

 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/complete/2010-W47

 

seriously, wtf do we pay this guy?

[Texsox]

I was thinking *he* needs a reality TV show, Joe Biden's White House Admiral's House (which is just down the street and around the corner from the White House, he's almost there)

[Balta1701]

HE also needs to protect the space-time continuum.

[kapkomet]

HE also needs to protect the space-time continuum.

 

 

You're watching too much streaming Trek again.

[Balta1701]

You're watching too much streaming Trek again.

Wrong series, son. Try again.;

[kapkomet]

Wrong series, son. Try again.;

 

 

I give. What was it?

[Balta1701]

I give. What was it?

Al Gore, guest-starring on Futurama.

[kapkomet]

Ah. I see the internets... er, uh...

[Texsox]

With as important as the VP is, I am surprised that we haven't found more to discuss.

[Texsox]

The second in line to the Presidency has no public appointments listed in his schedule today. Where the hell is the press coverage?

[Balta1701]

The second in line to the Presidency has no public appointments listed in his schedule today. Where the hell is the press coverage?

Actually, he's probably involved somehow in the tax cut negotiation meetings in the Senate, since he might well wind up a deciding vote.

[Texsox]

Actually, he's probably involved somehow in the tax cut negotiation meetings in the Senate, since he might well wind up a deciding vote.

 

 

Gee, are we unsure which way he will vote?

[Texsox]

Wow, 6 weeks or so and nobody here is interested in what Biden is doing? here is his schedule for today

 

9:30 am The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing Oval Office Closed Press 10:00 am The Vice President meets with Vice President of Colombia Angelino Garzón Closed Press 11:00 am The President and the Vice President receive the Economic Daily Briefing Oval Office Closed Press 1:15 pm The Vice President holds a meeting to discuss the steps the Administration is taking to protect intellectual property rights, combat piracy, and prevent the proliferation of counterfeit goods Roosevelt Room | Show DetailsAttorney General Eric Holder

Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke

Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President

Jack Lew, Director, Office of Management and Budget

Victoria Espinel, U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator

John Morton, Director, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Ambassador Phil Verveer, Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, U.S. Department of State

Carl Bass, President and CEO, Autodesk

John Lechleiter, President and CEO, Eli Lilly

Thomas Rothman, Co-Chairman and CEO, Fox Filmed Entertainment

Ajay Banga, President and CEO, Mastercard

Glen Barros, President and CEO, Concord Records

Paul Almeida, President, Department of Professional Employees, AFL-CIO

Ivan Seidenberg, Chairman and CEO, Verizon

Gigi Sohn, President, Public Knowledge

Aneesh Chopra, Chief Technology Officer of the United States

Margaret Hamburg, Commissioner of Food and Drugs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

David Kappos, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Alan Hoffman, Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the Vice President

Jason Furman, Deputy Director, National Economic Council

 

 

Pool

[Chet Lemon]

The second in line to the Presidency has no public appointments listed in his schedule today.

 

Isn't he actually first in line to the Presidency?

 

[Balta1701]

Isn't he actually first in line to the Presidency?

Depends...do you count the President as first in line?

[mr_genius]

Depends...do you count the President as first in line?

 

the president is already president. the line starts behind him.

[Balta1701]

the president is already president. the line starts behind him.

If I get in line first for a hot dog, I'm first in line, the line doesn't start behind me. And I get a hot dog. Win-win.

[southsider2k5]

If I get in line first for a hot dog, I'm first in line, the line doesn't start behind me. And I get a hot dog. Win-win.

 

If you already have the hot dog, you aren't in line anymore.

[Balta1701]

If you already have the hot dog, you aren't in line anymore.

Have I paid yet?

[mr_genius]

If I get in line first for a hot dog, I'm first in line, the line doesn't start behind me. And I get a hot dog. Win-win.

 

but if it's just you, there is no line. if I am at the DMV and I am getting my license handed to me I am not in line, whoever is next is first in line.

Edited February 20, 2011 by mr_genius

[Balta1701]

(Btw, this is hilarious).

[mr_genius]

serious business