Who is the President pro tempore in the Senate, and what does he do?
Terre Haute, IN – 6/6/01 Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), President pro tempore of the Senate. Click on picture for larger image The position of President pro tempore is set forth in the Constitution (Article I, sec. 3), which requires the Senate to elect a President pro tempore to preside over the Senate in the absence of the President of the Senate (the Vice-President of the United States.) The Latin term “pro tempore” means for a time only, i.e. a temporary substitute. The Senate tradition is to elect the majority party Senator with the longest continuous service to the post. In this Congress, that is Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV). Until the shift in majority control of the Senate to the Democrats on June 6, 2001, the post of president pro tem was held by Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC). The President pro tempore is also named in statute as third in the line of succession to the Presidency, right after the Vice-President and the Speaker of the House. In the frequent absences of the Vice-Presiden
