On November 19, President Joe Biden temporarily handed over his duties to Vice President Kamala Harris in accordance with the U.S. Constitution while he is under anesthesia in a hospital for a scheduled colonoscopy.
Biden will undergo the procedure on Friday, just one day before his 79th birthday. While the president will be under anesthesia, the vice president will work from his office in the West Wing of the White House.
“This morning the president will go to Walter Reed Medical Center for his annual scheduled physical. As was the case during the presidency of George W. Bush in 2002 and 2007…according to a procedure specified in the constitution, President Biden will transfer his powers to the vice president for a short period while he is under anesthesia” – White House press secretary Jen Psaki informed.
The media note that the temporary transfer of powers to the head of the U.S. will be carried out for the first time since the Biden administration came to power in the United States.
It is also reported that Kamala Harris is the first time a black woman has been in power in the United States, albeit temporarily. For the first time in the 250-year history of the country, no woman has ever held the presidency.
Why do we need a provisional transfer of powers to the vice president?
The impetus for amending the Constitution to detail the succession of power came from the high-profile assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
President Lyndon B. Johnson, in his report, promised to propose laws to ensure the necessary succession of affairs should the president become disabled or die. Such an amendment was finally passed by Congress in 1967.
Previous acts of devolution of power have usually been short-lived, occurring when the president was undergoing some sort of medical procedure.
In 2002, President George W. Bush was the first to use an article of the constitution to temporarily transfer power to Vice President Dick Cheney. Later Bush also temporarily handed over power to Dick Cheney as early as 2007 to undergo another colonoscopy.
In order to temporarily transfer powers to the vice president, the president writes a letter to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate stating that he is “unable to perform the powers and duties of his office.” Only then does the vice president become acting president. When the president is ready to resume work and get his powers back, he sends another letter-all spelled out in Article 25 of the U.S. Constitution
The document also states what happens if the president is unable to perform his duties but does not hand over power: in that case, the vice president and the majority of the government can declare the president unfit to run the state, or incapacitated. A letter is then sent, and the vice president becomes acting president.
These days, though, Joe Biden has promised to be fairly accurate and open about his health care compared to his predecessor, Donald Trump.
