[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 7, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7-S8]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           SENATE PRECEDENTS

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished majority leader.
  For the record, and without being critical of anyone, I am sure that 
we have followed late precedent in notifying the House and notifying 
the President after the President pro tempore is elected.
  When the Senate first met on April 6th, 1789, after having been 
delayed 34

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days for the lack of a quorum, the first order of business was the 
election of a President pro tempore, who is a constitutional officer. 
The Senate is required to elect a Member of the body to serve as the 
President pro tempore in the absence of the Vice President.
  When the Senate met on April 6th, 1789 there was no Vice President. 
There was no President. And once the President pro tempore was 
elected--his name was John Langdon from New Hampshire--the Senate then 
notified the House that it was organized and ready to count the 
electoral ballots.
  So the selection of the President pro tempore was first because the 
Senate had to have a Presiding Officer. And there was no Vice 
President. There was no Vice President until April 21st of 1789 when 
the Vice President, John Adams, took the oath of office.
  So I say this because sometimes we vary from precedent without 
thinking about it. And it escaped my notice that this was done, I 
think, in the last Congress when the President pro tempore was elected.
  But in any event, for the record, I hope that in the future we will 
follow the practice of the Members of the Senate of 1789, when a 
President pro tempore is to be elected.
  In the old days they elected a President pro tempore perhaps for the 
occasion, or one for a single day. But the practice now is that we 
elect a President pro tempore, who serves until another is elected--he 
retires, or passes on to another world, or his party loses control and 
a new President pro tempore is elected, or until his own term as 
Senator expires and he is reelected, as was the case today.
  I thank all Senators for their indulgence. And especially I thank our 
two fine leaders. I am also very favorably impressed with both leaders. 
I know that they are going to do the Senate proud and do all of us 
proud.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator from West 
Virginia for that information. And certainly we want to follow the 
precedents very closely. I will make sure that we look carefully at 
those and be prepared to elect a President pro tempore first the next 
time. Certainly, my feeling is that there is no higher honor nor 
greater responsibility nor greater opportunity than electing the 
Senator from South Carolina as the leader and as President pro tempore 
of the Senate.
  So I thank Senator Byrd for his comments.

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