Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 of the
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
provides that the
vice president of the United States
The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...
is the ''
ex officio
An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...
''
president of the Senate
President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies.
The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for e ...
, and that the vice president may cast a vote in the Senate only
in order to break a tie. According to information provided by the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, as of August 7, 2022, the collective number of tie-breaking votes cast by vice presidents was 294.
Constitutional basis
Article I Article One may refer to:
Legal codes
* Article One of the United States Constitution, pertaining to the powers of the United States Congress
* Article One of the Constitution of India, pertaining to the federal nature of the republic
Other us ...
, Section 3, Clause 4 of the
Constitution of the United States
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...
directly states:
History
The first vice president of the United States,
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
, cast 29 tie-breaking votes. He cast his first tie-breaking vote on July 18, 1789.
His 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
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
. On at least one occasion he persuaded senators to vote against legislation that he opposed, and he frequently lectured the Senate on procedural and policy matters. Adams' political views and his active role in the Senate made him a natural target for critics of the
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
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.
John C. Calhoun was the only vice president to ever cast tie-breaking votes against his own president,
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
. President Jackson nominated
Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party (Uni ...
as
United States Minister to the United Kingdom
The United States ambassador to the United Kingdom (known formally as the ambassador of the United States to the Court of St James's) is the official representative of the president of the United States and the American government to the monarch ...
, as Van Buren was acting minister on a
recess appointment
In the United States, a recess appointment is an appointment by the president of a federal official when the U.S. Senate is in recess. Under the U.S. Constitution's Appointments Clause, the President is empowered to nominate, and with the advi ...
. Calhoun cast a tie-breaking vote to delay the nomination on January 13, 1832, and later cast a vote to defeat the nomination on January 25. Calhoun's supporters in the Senate provided him with the opportunity to spite Jackson, where just enough of Calhoun's faction abstained to create a tie that he was then able to break.
In the early 21st century, the increased threat of a
filibuster
A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...
led to a rise in the use of
cloture
Cloture (, also ), closure or, informally, a guillotine, is a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. ...
to end debate in the Senate, especially on high-profile issues where the Senate is sharply divided. The increased use of cloture made the vice president's tie-breaking vote less likely to be used, as the invocation of cloture requires a three-fifths majority (rather than a simple majority). However, in 2013, the cloture requirement was
reduced to a simple majority for all executive and judicial nominations except
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
nominations. In 2017, the cloture requirement was reduced to a simple majority for Supreme Court nominations. These rules changes led to the first ever use of a tie-breaking vote to confirm a Cabinet member when
Mike Pence
Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th ...
broke a tie to confirm
Betsy DeVos
Elisabeth Dee DeVos ( ; ' Prince; born January 8, 1958) is an American politician, philanthropist, and former government official who served as the 11th United States secretary of education from 2017 to 2021. DeVos is known for her support for s ...
as Secretary of Education in 2017. In 2018, Pence broke a tie to confirm
Jonathan A. Kobes to the
Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (in case citations, 8th Cir.) is a United States federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States district courts:
* Eastern District of Arkansas
* Western Distr ...
; this was the first ever tie-breaking vote to confirm a judicial nominee in U.S. history.
Since January 20, 2021, the current
117th Congress
The 117th United States Congress is the current meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on ...
's Senate has been divided 50–50 between
Republicans and
Democrats; therefore, Vice President
Kamala Harris
Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who is the 49th vice president of the United States. She is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well ...
's tie-breaking vote gives the Democrats the Senate majority. On July 20, 2021, Harris broke Pence's record for tie-breaking votes in the first year of a vice presidency
when she cast the seventh tie-breaking vote in her first six months.
Harris cast 15 tie-breaking votes during her first year in office, the most tie-breaking votes in a single year in U.S. history, surpassing John Adams who cast 12 votes in 1790.
On May 11, 2022, Harris cast four tie-breaking votes, setting the all-time record of tie-breaking votes in a single day.
List of vice presidents by number of tie-breaking votes
, there have been 294 tie-breaking votes cast by vice presidents.
List of tie-breaking votes since 1945
References
External links
U.S. Senate: Tie Votes (Secretary of the U.S. Senate)
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Tie-Breaking Votes Cast By Vice Presidents Of The United States
tie-breaking votes cast
τ
Lists related to the United States Senate
Articles containing video clips