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The President of the Senate is the title often given to the presiding officer, or chairman, of a senate. In many countries, the Senate Presidency is a largely symbolic position. In countries with a presidential system of government it is often bestowed on the Vice President following the tradition set by the United States Constitution. In the absence of the Vice President of the United States, the President pro Tempore presides over the Senate. In nations without a Vice President the Senate President is often a very high-ranking figure in the order of presidential succession.
Australian Senate See President of the Australian Senate. United States Senate The Vice President of the United States is designated by the Constitution as the President of the Senate. The current Vice President and President of the United States Senate is Dick Cheney. The Vice President holds a tie breaking vote in the Senate and does not usually preside over the Senate. Since its inception the role of casting a tie breaking vote in the Senate has been exercised 242 times. The Vice President of the United States with the most tie breaking votes is John Adams with 29. Freshman senators are traditionally assigned the role of presiding over the Senate in order to learn Senate procedure. The U.S. Senate also elects, from its own membership, a President Pro Tempore. The President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate is traditionally the senator in the majority party with the longest amount of service. The President Pro Tempore handles many of the ceremonial functions of the Senate Presidency, including receiving executive communications on behalf of the Senate and appointing senators to preside over the Senate. The current President Pro Tempore is Ted Stevens of Alaska. United States state governments In United States state government, the President of the State Senate is a matter decided by the state constitution. Some states designate the Lieutenant Governor as President of the Senate, while other states allow for the Senate to elect one of the Senators as President. The Tennessee Senate elects a Senator as President, and this President is given the title of Lieutenant Governor. Similarly, New Hampshire has no Lieutenant Governor, but the State Senate elects a President who is the de facto Lieutenant Governor, given that in the event of the Governor's death, resignation, or inability to serve, the President of the Senate acts as Governor until the position is filled, presumably by the next regularly scheduled biennial Gubernatorial election. While such systems where the first in line for the Executive is the President of the Senate seem similar to the Vice Presidency of the United States, only once in history has there been a Vice President of a party opposing that of the President. (While Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson were a Republican and a Democrat respectively, they were elected together on the National Union ticket in the 1864 presidential election.) As the President of a Senate is chosen by the Senate, it is far more likely in Tennessee and New Hampshire that the first in line of succession for the executive would be a political adversary of the sitting Governor. As of January 2006, this is the case in New Hampshire, with Governor John Lynch (D) and Senate President Ted Gatsas (R). See also | ||||||||
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