Constitution Article 1 §3.4: Vice President Breaks Ties and Records

Lately democracy has been taking a global beating, and the U.S. has not been immune, what with a Russian-influenced presidential election and a new president who appears not to understand or even be familiar with the Constitution. I want to be better at democracy than old 45 is, so I’m studying the Constitution, and blogging what I learn. I’d love to make it a study group. After all, in a functioning democracy we should all be Constitutional scholars.

For those of you just tuning in, there are seven articles in the Constitution. I’m currently reading the First Article, which deals with the legislative branch of government. It has 10 sections. Section One establishes a bicameral Congress and Section Two deals with the House of Representatives. I’m currently reading Section Three. Today is Clause 4.

Article 1 §3.4

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

Straightforward. The House of Representatives, being the more populist Congressional chamber, chooses its own leader, while the Senate is presided over by the Veep, who gets to be the tie-breaker. When I was a kid, people acted like the Vice President wasn’t very important, because usually he isn’t. (Restrictive use of pronoun duly noted, yet historically accurate.)

According to the Senate website, the vice president was originally expected to preside at regular sessions of the Senate. From John Adams in 1789 to Richard Nixon in the 1950s, this was the chief function of vice presidents. Vice presidents had an office in the Capitol, received their staff support and office expenses through the legislative appropriations, and rarely were invited to participate in cabinet meetings or other executive activities. In 1961, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson changed the vice presidency by moving his office to the White House and directing his attention to executive functions while only attending Senate sessions at critical times when his vote might be necessary. I wonder if folks kicked up a fuss about Constitutionality when he made those changes? In any case, the changes stuck, and vice presidents have followed Johnson’s example ever since.

But in further evidence that the Constitution is getting a serious workout these days, our extremely divided Senate called upon the current Vice President to break a tie four times in his first 200 days. That’s as many votes as most VPs get in a term. He’s on track to break records.