United States Vice Presidents' tie-breaking votes

The Vice President of the United States is the "ex-officio" President of the United States Senate. He may have a casting vote in the Senate's decisions only to break a tie. [cite web|url=http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Constitution_Senate.htm#5|title=Senate.gov: The Senate and the United States Constitution]

Historical significance

The first President of the Senate, John Adams, cast twenty-nine tie-breaking votesndash a record that none of his successors has matched. 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. 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's political views and his active role in the Senate made him a natural target for critics of the Washington 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. [cite web|url=http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_John_Adams.htm|title=Senate.gov: John Adams, 1st Vice President (1789-1797)]

In 2001, during the 107th Congress, the Senate was divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats and thus Dick Cheney's tie-breaking vote gave the Republicans the Senate majority. Interestingly, however, because the 107th Congress was sworn in on January 3, while the president and vice president were not sworn in until the 20th, Democrats technically held a 51-50 majority in the Senate for the 17 days while Al Gore was still Vice President. However, no substantive legislating was done in this time.

List of Presidents of the Senate by number of tie-breaking votes

There have been 244 tie-breaking votes cast by 46 Presidents of the Senate. The median and mean numbers of tie-breaking votes cast per Senate President are 3 and 5.30 respectively.*As of March 14, 2008 [ [http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/reference/four_column_table/Tie_Votes.htm U.S. Senate: Reference Home > Statistics & Lists > Votes to Break Ties in the Senate ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/VPTies.pdf List of Vice Presidential Tie-Breaking Votes, 1789-2003 (U.S. Senate Historical Office)]
* [http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/reference/four_column_table/Tie_Votes.htm Votes by Vice Presidents to Break Tie Votes in the Senate, 1981-2005 (Secretary of the U.S. Senate)]