If Obama got killed and Bidin became the president, who would become the president of the senate?
The vice president appointed by Biden and confirmed by the Senate.
If I’m not mistaken, the new veep has to be approved by both houses of Congress. Quick search . . . yes, 25th amendment, section 2:
“Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.”
And of course the President pro tem of the Senate (usually the senior senator of the majority party) would continue to serve, regardless of what happened to the President and Vice President of the U.S. He or she would remain in the line of succession, just behind the Speaker of the House: President pro tempore of the United States Senate - Wikipedia
So if Pres. Obama passed away tonight, Pres. Biden would nominate a new Vice President following the 25th Amendment procedures. Sen. Inouye would continue as Pres. Pro Tem, and be in charge of presiding over the Senate until a new Veep is in place.
Same general procedure, by the way, if Biden keels over – Obam nominates a replacement.
What if there’s a tie in the Senate?
That’s a good question, Munch. It’s never happened (only two VPs have been named under the 25th Amendment’s procedures, Ford and Rockefeller). I guess the nomination would die in the Senate if there was a tie vote, something the President would fervently want to avoid.
And you’re correct, Polycarp. Remember that the VP seldom personally officiates over the Senate nowadays anyway; usually only in the first session of the term, when the newly-elected senators are sworn in, or if there’s an important vote that might result in a tie.
Forget that. What if there’s a crisis in the space-time continuum?
Again?!?!?!?
At least when it’s happened before, there has been a strong presumption on the part of Congress to allow the President his chosen pick. Despite a Democratic-controlled Congress in both houses, Ford was confirmed by a 92–3 vote in the Senate and 387–35 in the House, and Rockefeller (who was more controversial) by 90-7 in the Senate and 287–128 by the House.
Despite greater partisanship these days, a President (of either party) would probably have to pick someone pretty controversial not to have his nominee confirmed by a wide margin.
Until a successor vice-president is confirmed and sworn, nobody has the power to break ties in the Senate. Any motion which results in a tie vote fails, including a motion to confirm the successor vice-president.
The Senate has managed to carry on somehow without there being a Vice-President, in some cases for years. For example, Presidents Harrison, Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and FD Roosevelt all died shortly after the beginning of a term in office (Lincoln and McKinley at the beginning of their second terms, FDR at the beginning of his fourth), with their Vice-Presidents stepping up and out to the Presidency.
Since there was no provision for a Veep to be appointed prior to the 25th Amendment, the office of President of the Senate also went vacant for over three years in each of those cases, with no-one able to break tie votes.
Somehow, the Republic survived.
Yes, I seem to remember reading at the time of the adoption of the 25th Amendment in 1967, that the U.S. had been without a Vice President for about a fifth of its history.
Noting that there were several Vice Presidents who died in office, also leaving the role open even though there was a sitting President. I made a post to a thread about a month ago listing off who other than a VP was next in line for the Presidency over US history – several Presidents Pro Tem, several Speakers of the House, four Secretaries of State, and in one case (after a Secretary of State resigned during Truman’s first (succeeding FDR term) Secretary of the Tresury Morgenthau was for a few days next in line for the Presidency.
Without anyone to break a tie vote, what would happen if there was a tie vote?
Motion fails, IIRC, according to Senate rules.
But at that time, the same was assumed (in most cases) for SCOTUS nominees. Look at it now.
A motion requires a majority (more than half) to pass. So exactly half means it fails.
It still is. The last time a SCOTUS nominee was rejected was 1987.
Harriet Miers was not rejected in 2005; her nomination was withdrawn even though Republicans controlled the Senate.
I can easily imagine an alternate history where McCain won in 2008 and a newly sworn in President Palin tries and fails to nominate a female grizzly bear to replace her as vice president.