President pro tempore of the United States Senate - wikipedia President pro tempore of the United States Senate President pro tempore of the United States Senate Incumbent Orrin Hatch ( R ) since January 6, 2015 Style Mr. President ( Informal and within the Senate ) The Honorable ( Formal ) Appointer Elected by the U.S. Senate Term length During the pleasure of the Senate and until another is elected or their term of office as a Senator expires Constituting instrument U.S. Constitution Inaugural holder John Langdon April 6, 1789 Formation March 4, 1789 Succession Third Deputy Any senator, typically a member of the majority party, designated by the President pro tempore This article is part of a series on the Politics of the United States of America Federal Government Constitution of the United States Law Taxation Legislature United States Congress House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan ( R ) Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy ( R ) Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi ( D ) Congressional districts United States Senate President Mike Pence ( R ) President Pro Tempore Orrin Hatch ( R ) President Pro Tempore Emeritus Patrick Leahy ( D ) Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( R ) Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ( D ) Executive President of the United States Donald Trump ( R ) Vice President of the United States Mike Pence ( R ) Cabinet Federal agencies Executive Office Judiciary Supreme Court of the United States Chief Justice John Roberts Kennedy Thomas Ginsburg Breyer Alito Sotomayor Kagan Gorsuch Courts of Appeals District Courts ( list ) Other tribunals Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Off - year elections Political parties Democratic Republican Third parties Federalism State Government Governors Legislatures ( List ) State courts Local government Other countries Atlas The president pro tempore of the United States Senate ( / ˌproʊ ˈtɛmpəriː / or / ˌproʊ ˈtɛmpəreɪ / ), also president pro tem, is the second - highest - ranking official of the United States Senate. Article One, Section Three of the United States Constitution provides that the Vice President of the United States is, despite not being a senator, the President of the Senate, and mandates that the Senate must choose a president pro tempore to act in the Vice President 's absence. Unlike the vice president, the president pro tempore is an elected member of the Senate, able to speak or vote on any issue. Selected by the Senate at large, the president pro tempore has enjoyed many privileges and some limited powers. During the vice president 's absence, the president pro tempore is empowered to preside over Senate sessions. In practice, neither the vice president nor the president pro tempore usually presides ; instead, the duty of presiding officer is rotated among junior senators of the majority party to give them experience in parliamentary procedure. Since 1890, the most senior senator in the majority party has generally been chosen to be president pro tempore and holds the office continuously until the election of another. This tradition has been observed without interruption since 1949. Since enactment of the current Presidential Succession Act in 1947, the president pro tempore is third in the line of succession to the presidency, after the vice president and the Speaker of the House of Representatives and ahead of the Secretary of State. The current President pro tempore of the Senate is Utah Republican Orrin Hatch. Elected on January 6, 2015, he is the 90th person to serve in this office. Contents 1 Power and responsibilities 2 History 3 Related officials 3.1 Acting president pro tempore 3.1. 1 Permanent acting president pro tempore 3.2 Deputy president pro tempore 3.3 President pro tempore emeritus 4 Salary 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Power and responsibilities The office of president pro tempore is created by Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution : 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. Although the position is in some ways analogous to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the powers of the president pro tempore are far more limited. In the Senate, most power rests with party leaders and individual senators, but as the chamber 's presiding officer, the president pro tempore is authorized to perform certain duties in the absence of the vice president, including ruling on points of order. Additionally, under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, the president pro tempore and the speaker are the two authorities to whom declarations must be transmitted that the president is unable to perform the duties of the office, or is able to resume doing so. The president pro tempore is third in the line of presidential succession, following the vice president and the speaker. Additional duties include appointment of various congressional officers, certain commissions, advisory boards, and committees and joint supervision of the congressional page school. The president pro tempore is the designated legal recipient of various reports to the Senate, including War Powers Act reports under which he or she, jointly with the speaker, may have the president call Congress back into session. The officeholder is an ex officio member of various boards and commissions. With the secretary and sergeant at arms, the president pro tempore maintains order in Senate portions of the Capitol and Senate buildings. History Benjamin Wade came within one vote of being the first president pro tempore to succeed to the presidency after the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson in 1868. The office of president pro tempore was established by the Constitution of the United States in 1789. The first president pro tempore, John Langdon, was elected on April 6 the same year. Originally, the president pro tempore was appointed on an intermittent basis when the vice president was not present to preside over the Senate. Until the 1960s, it was common practice for the vice president to preside over daily Senate sessions, so the president pro tempore rarely presided unless the vice presidency became vacant. Until 1891, the president pro tempore only served until the return of the vice president to the chair or the adjournment of a session of Congress. Between 1792 and 1886, the president pro tempore was second in the line of presidential succession following the vice president and preceding the speaker. On three occasions during the 19th century, the Senate was without both a president and a president pro tempore : July 9 -- 11, 1850, following Millard Fillmore 's accession to the presidency upon the death of Zachary Taylor, until William R. King was elected president pro tempore ; September 19 -- October 10, 1881, following Chester Arthur 's accession to the presidency upon the death of James A. Garfield, until Thomas F. Bayard was elected president pro tempore ; November 25 -- December 7, 1885, following the death of Vice President Thomas A. Hendricks, until John Sherman was elected president pro tempore. When President Andrew Johnson, who had no vice president, was impeached and tried in 1868, Senate President pro tempore Benjamin Franklin Wade was next in line to the presidency. Wade 's radicalism is thought by many historians to be a major reason why the Senate, which did not want to see Wade in the White House, acquitted Johnson. The President pro tempore and the Speaker of the House were removed from the presidential line of succession in 1886. Both were restored to it in 1947, though this time with the president pro tempore following the speaker. William P. Frye served as President pro tempore from 1896 to 1911 ( 54th -- 62nd Congress ), a tenure longer than anyone else. He resigned from the position due to ill health a couple of months before his death. Electing his successor proved difficult, as Senate Republicans, then in the majority, were split between progressive and conservative factions, each promoting its own candidate. Likewise, the Democrats proposed their own candidate. As a result of this three - way split, no individual received a majority vote. It took four months for a compromise solution to emerge : Democrat Augustus Bacon would serve for a single day, August 14, 1911, during the vice president 's absence. Thereafter, Bacon and four Republicans -- Charles Curtis, Jacob Gallinger, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Frank Brandegee -- would alternate as president pro tempore for the remainder of the Congress. In January 1945, the 79th Congress, elected Kenneth McKellar, who at the time was the Senator with the longest continuous service, to be President pro tempore. Since then, it has become customary for the majority party 's senior member to hold this position. Arthur Vandenberg ( in 1947 -- 1949 ) was the last president pro tempore not to be the senior member of the majority party, aside from the single day accorded Milton Young ( in December 1980 ), who was the retiring senior member of the Republican Party, which would hold the majority in the incoming 97th Congress. Three presidents pro tempore subsequently became Vice President : John Tyler, William R. King and Charles Curtis. Tyler is the only one to become president ( in April 1841, following the death of William Henry Harrison ). Related officials Acting president pro tempore While the president pro tempore does have other official duties, the holders of the office have, like the vice president, over time ceased presiding over the Senate on a daily basis, owing to the mundane and ceremonial nature of the position. Furthermore, as the president pro tempore is now usually the most senior senator of the majority party, he or she most likely also chairs a major Senate committee and has other significant demands on his or her time. Therefore, the president pro tempore has less time now than in the past to preside daily over the Senate. Instead, junior senators from the majority party are designated acting president pro tempore to preside over the Senate. This allows junior senators to learn proper parliamentary procedure. The acting president pro tempore is usually reappointed daily by the president pro tempore. Permanent acting president pro tempore In June 1963, because of the illness of president pro tempore Carl Hayden, Senator Lee Metcalf was designated permanent acting president pro tempore. No term was imposed on this designation, so Metcalf retained it until he died in office in 1978. Deputy president pro tempore Hubert Humphrey ( D - Minnesota ) was the first Deputy President pro tempore in 1977 -- 1978 The ceremonial post of deputy president pro tempore was created for Hubert Humphrey, a former vice president, in 1977 following his losing bid to become the Senate majority leader. The Senate resolution creating the position stated that any former president or former vice president serving in the Senate would be entitled to this position, though none has served since Humphrey 's death in 1978, and former vice president Walter Mondale, who sought his former Senate seat in Minnesota in 2002, is the only one to have tried. Andrew Johnson is the only former president to have subsequently served in the Senate. George J. Mitchell was elected deputy president pro tempore in 1987, because of the illness of president pro tempore John C. Stennis, similar to Metcalf 's earlier designation as permanent acting president pro tempore. The office has remained vacant since 1989 and no senator other than Humphrey and Mitchell has held it since its creation. Mitchell is the only person to have served as deputy president pro tempore who was neither a former president nor former vice president of the United States. The post is largely honorary and ceremonial, but comes with a salary increase. By statute, the compensation granted to the position holder equals the rate of annual compensation paid to the president pro tempore, majority leader, and minority leader. ( See 2 U.S.C. § 6112. ) President pro tempore emeritus Patrick Leahy ( D - Vermont ), former president pro tempore, and current president pro tempore emeritus. Since 2001, the honorary title of president pro tempore emeritus has been given to a senator of the minority party who has previously served as president pro tempore. The position has been held by Strom Thurmond ( R - South Carolina ) ( 2001 -- 2003 ), Robert Byrd ( D - West Virginia ) ( 2003 -- 2007 ), Ted Stevens ( R - Alaska ) ( 2007 -- 2009 ) and Patrick Leahy ( D - Vermont ) ( 2015 -- present ). From 2009 to 2015, no senator met the requirements for the position. The position was created for Thurmond when the Democratic Party regained a majority in the Senate in June 2001. With the change in party control, Democrat Robert Byrd of West Virginia replaced Thurmond as president pro tempore, reclaiming a position he had previously held from 1989 to 1995 and briefly in January 2001. Thurmond 's retirement from the Senate on January 3, 2003, coincided with a change from Democratic to Republican control, making Stevens president pro tempore and Byrd the second president pro tempore emeritus. Byrd returned as president pro tempore, and Stevens became the third president pro tempore emeritus, when the Democrats gained control of the Senate in 2007. While a president pro tempore emeritus has no official duties, he is entitled to an increase in staff and advises party leaders on the functions of the Senate. The office 's accompanying budget increase was removed toward the end of the 113th Congress, shortly before Patrick Leahy was to become the first holder of the title in six years. Quoted in CQ Roll Call, Leahy commented, `` They did n't keep their commitment. They want to treat us differently than we treated them, and so they 've got that right. It seems kind of petty, but it really does n't matter to me. I 've got plenty of funding, plenty of good staff. '' Salary The salary of the president pro tempore for 2012 was $193,400, equal to that of the majority leaders and minority leaders of both houses of Congress. If there is a vacancy in the office of vice president, then the salary would be the same as that of the vice president, $230,700. See also List of Presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate Seniority in the United States Senate Acting Vice President of the United States References Jump up ^ `` 3 U.S. Code § 19 - Vacancy in offices of both President and Vice President ; officers eligible to act ''. Jump up ^ `` Pro tempore Legal Definition ''. Lawyers.com. Jump up ^ Senate Historical Office ; With a preface by Senator Robert C. Byrd, President pro tempore ( 2008 ). Erickson, Nancy ( Secretary of the Senate ), ed. Pro Tem : Presidents Pro Tempore of the United States Senate since 1789 ( PDF ). U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 9. ISBN 978 - 0 - 16 - 079984 - 6. Retrieved January 9, 2017. ^ Jump up to : `` Hillary takes Senate gavel -- for an hour ''. CNN. January 24, 2001. Archived from the original on January 20, 2010. ^ Jump up to : Davis, Christopher M. ( December 20, 2012 ). The President Pro Tempore of the Senate : History and Authority of the Office ( Report ). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved February 23, 2015. ^ Jump up to : Mount, Steve. `` Constitutional Topic : Presidential Line of Succession ''. USConstitution.net. Steve Mount. Retrieved October 19, 2009. Jump up ^ Kathy Gill. `` US Senate Organization ''. About.com. The New York Times Company. Retrieved October 19, 2009. ^ Jump up to : `` President Pro Tempore ''. United States Senate. Retrieved May 2, 2017. ^ Jump up to : Sachs, Richard C. ( January 22, 2003 ). `` The President Pro Tempore of the Senate : History and Authority of the Office '' ( PDF ). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved December 9, 2008. ^ Jump up to : Richard E. Berg - Andersson ( June 7, 2001 ). `` A Brief History of Congressional Leadership ''. The Green Papers. Retrieved November 17, 2009. Jump up ^ Smith, Gene ( 1977 ). High Crimes and Misdemeanors : The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson. William Morrow & Company. ISBN 0 - 688 - 03072 - 6. Jump up ^ Gold, Martin B. ; Gupta, Dimple. `` The Constitutional Option to Change Senate Rules and Procedures : A Majoritarian Means to Over Come the Filibuster * '' ( PDF ). Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. 28 ( 1 ) : 211. Jump up ^ `` APPOINTMENT OF A SENATOR TO THE CHAIR - Rules of the Senate - United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration ''. Jump up ^ `` Hubert H. Humphrey ''. virtualology.com. Evisum Inc. 2000. Retrieved December 24, 2009. Jump up ^ S. Res. 103, adopted, June 6, 2001. `` Thanking and Electing Strom Thurmond President pro tempore emeritus. '' Jump up ^ 2 U.S.C. § 32b Jump up ^ Lesniewski, Niels ( December 10, 2014 ). `` Leahy : ' Kind of Petty ' Not to Fund Emeritus Office in ' Cromnibus ' ''. CQ Roll Call. Retrieved January 7, 2015. External links `` President pro tempore ''. Official website of the United States Senate. Retrieved November 27, 2008. Current U.S. presidential line of succession Preceded by Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan 3rd in line Succeeded by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate Langdon Lee Langdon Izard H Tazewell Livermore Bingham Bradford Read Sedgwick Laurance Ross Livermore Tracy Howard Hillhouse Baldwin Bradley Brown Franklin Anderson Smith Bradley Milledge Gregg Gaillard Pope Crawford Varnum Gaillard Barbour Gaillard Macon Smith L Tazewell White Poindexter Tyler WR King Southard Mangum Sevier Atchison WR King Atchison Cass Bright Stuart Bright Mason Rusk Fitzpatrick Bright Fitzpatrick Foot Clark Foster Wade Anthony Carpenter Anthony Ferry Thurman Bayard Davis Edmunds Sherman Ingalls Manderson Harris Ransom Harris Frye Office rotated 1911 -- 1913 Bacon Curtis Gallinger Brandegee Lodge Clarke Saulsbury Cummins Moses Pittman WH King Harrison Glass McKellar Vandenberg McKellar Bridges George Hayden Russell Ellender Eastland Magnuson Young Magnuson Thurmond Stennis Byrd Thurmond Byrd Thurmond Byrd Stevens Byrd Inouye Leahy Hatch United States Congress House of Representatives Senate ( 114th ← 115th → 116th ) Lists of congressional lists Members and leaders Members Current By length of service Freshmen Youngest members Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico Delegates Longest - 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born citizen ( acquired U.S. citizenship by naturalization ) and thus ineligible for the Presidency. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=President_pro_tempore_of_the_United_States_Senate&oldid=793595272 '' Categories : Presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate Legislative deputy speakers United States Senate Senior legislators Hidden categories : Use mdy dates from April 2012 Talk Read Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Français 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Magyar Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Русский Simple English Suomi Svenska Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 2 August 2017, at 19 : 13. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what is the role of the president pro tempore of the senate
Answer: to act in the Vice President's absence