[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17924]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




VICE PRESIDENT HAS A PROBLEM OF FIGURING OUT WHICH BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT 
                             HE BELONGS TO

  (Mr. PASCRELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PASCRELL. Madam Speaker, we need a history lesson right here.
  Article II, the executive powers shall be vested in the powers of the 
President of the United States. He shall hold his office for a term of 
4 years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same 
term.
  The Vice President has a problem of figuring out which branch of 
government he belongs to. But in Federalist Paper No. 68, Alexander 
Hamilton was very, very clear about this. The appointment of an 
extraordinary person as Vice President has been objected to as 
superfluous. Take the Senator of any State from his seat as a Senator 
to place him in the President of the Senate would be totally 
ridiculous, would be to exchange a regard to the State from which he 
came a constant for a contingent vote.
  The other consideration is that as the Vice President may 
occasionally become a substitute for the President, in the supreme 
executive magistracy, all the reasons which recommend the mode of 
elections prescribed for the one apply for the great, if not with equal 
force, to the manner of appointing the other. It is remarkable that 
this, as in most other instances, with the objection which is made, 
would be against the Constitution of this State.
  Mr. Vice President, go back to the Constitution and learn where you 
belong.

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