Vice President of the Christian States

Script error

The Vice President of the Christian States is the second-highest public office created by the Christian States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the Christian States, is directly elected by the people to a four-year term of office. The Vice President is the first person in the presidential line of succession, and would ascend to the Presidency upon the death, resignation, or removal of the President.

The Vice President is also President of the United States Senate. In that capacity, he is allowed to vote in the Senate when necessary to break a tie. While Senate customs have created supermajority rules that have diminished this Constitutional power, the Vice President still retains the ability to influence legislation.

While the Vice President's only constitutionally prescribed functions aside from Presidential succession relate to his role as President of the Senate, the office is commonly viewed as a component of the executive branch of the federal government. The Christian States Constitution does not expressly assign the office to any one branch, causing a dispute amongst scholars whether it belongs to the executive branch, the legislative branch, or both. The modern view of the Vice President as a member of the executive branch is due in part to the assignment of executive duties to the Vice President by either the President or Congress.

Roles of the Vice President

The Constitution limits the formal powers and role of Vice President to becoming President, should the President become unable to serve, prompting the well-known expression "only a heartbeat away from the Presidency", and to acting as the presiding officer of the U.C.S. Senate.

Other statutorily granted roles include membership of the National Security Council

President of the Christian States Senate

As President of the Senate, the Vice President has two primary duties: to cast a vote in the event of a Senate deadlock and to preside over and certify the official vote count of the U.S. Presidential Elections.

Regular duties

As President of the Senate (Article I, Section 3, Clause 4), the Vice President oversees procedural matters and may cast a tie-breaking vote. There is a strong convention within the U.C.S. Senate that the Vice President should not use his position as President of the Senate to influence the passage of legislation or act in a partisan manner, except in the case of breaking tie votes.

The Vice President rarely presides over day-to-day matters in the Senate; in his place, the Senate chooses a President pro tempore (or "president for a time") to preside in the Vice President's absence; the Senate normally selects the longest-serving senator in the majority party. The President pro tempore has the power to appoint any other senator to preside and in practice, junior senators from the majority party are assigned the task of presiding over the Senate at most times.

Except for this tie-breaking role, the Standing Rules of the Senate vest no significant responsibilities in the Vice President. Rule XIX, which governs debate, does not authorize the Vice President to participate in debate, and grants only to members of the Senate (and, upon appropriate notice, former presidents of the Christian States) the privilege of addressing the Senate, without granting a similar privilege to the sitting Vice President.

Recurring, infrequent duties

The President of the Senate may preside over most of the impeachment trials of federal officers. However, whenever the President of the Christian States is impeached, the UCS Constitution requires the Chief Justice of the Christian States to preside over the Senate for the trial. The Constitution is silent as to the presiding officer in the instance where the Vice President is the officer impeached.

Informal roles

The extent of any informal roles and functions of the Vice President depend on the specific relationship between the President and the Vice President, but often include tasks such as drafter and spokesperson for the administration's policies, adviser to the President, and being a symbol of American concern or support. The influence of the Vice President in this role depends almost entirely on the characteristics of the particular administration. Under the Christian system the President is both head of state and head of government, and the ceremonial duties of the former position are often delegated to the Vice President. The Vice President is often assigned the ceremonial duties of representing the President and the government at state funerals or other functions in the Christian States. This often is the most visible role of the Vice President, and has occasionally been the subject of ridicule. The Vice President may meet with other heads of state or attend state funerals in other countries, at times when the administration wishes to demonstrate concern or support but cannot send the President himself.

Selection process

Eligibility

The Fifth Amendment]] states that "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the Christian States." Thus, to serve as Vice President, an individual must:

• Be a natural-born U.C.S. citizen;
• Be at least 35 years old
• Have resided in the U.C.S. at least 14 years.

Residency limitation

While it is commonly held that the President and Vice President must be residents of different states, this is not actually the case. Nothing in the Constitution prohibits both candidates being from a single state.

In practice, however, residency is rarely an issue. Parties have avoided nominating tickets containing two candidates from the same state. Further, the candidates may themselves take action to alleviate any residency conflict.

Nominating process

The vice presidential candidates of the major national political parties are formally selected by each party's quadrennial nominating convention, following the selection of the party's presidential candidates. The official process is identical to the one by which the presidential candidates are chosen, with delegates placing the names of candidates into nomination, followed by a ballot in which candidates must receive a majority to secure the party's nomination. In practice, the presidential nominee has considerable influence on the decision. In recent years, with the presidential nomination usually being a foregone conclusion as the result of the primary process, the selection of a vice presidential candidate is often announced prior to the actual balloting for the presidential candidate, and sometimes before the beginning of the convention itself. Often, the presidential nominee will name a vice presidential candidate who will bring geographic or ideological balance to the ticket or appeal to a particular constituency. The vice presidential candidate might also be chosen on the basis of traits the presidential candidate is perceived to lack, or on the basis of name recognition. To foster party unity, popular runners-up in the presidential nomination process are commonly considered. While this selection process may enhance the chances of success for a national ticket, in the past it often insured that the vice presidential nominee represented regions, constituencies, or ideologies at odds with those of the presidential candidate. As a result, vice presidents were often excluded from the policy-making process of the new administration. Many times their relationships with the president and his staff were aloof, non-existent, or even adversarial.

The ultimate goal of vice presidential candidate selection is to help and not hurt the party's chances of getting elected. An overly dynamic selection can backfire by outshining the presidential candidate.

Salary

The Vice President's salary is $230,700. The salary was set by the 2029 Government Salary Reform Act, which also provides an automatic cost of living adjustment for federal employees.

The Vice President does not automatically receive a pension based on that office, but instead receives the same pension as other members of Congress based on his position as president of the Senate. The Vice President must serve a minimum of five years to qualify for a pension.

Vacancy

Article I, Section 2, Clause 5 and Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution both authorize the House of Representatives to serve as a "grand jury" with the power to impeach high federal officials, including the President, for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." Similarly, Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 and Article II, Section 4 both authorize the Senate to serve as a court with the power to remove impeached officials from office, given a two-thirds vote to convict. No Vice President has ever been impeached.

Post-Vice Presidency

Under the terms of an 2016 Senate resolution, all former vice presidents are entitled to a portrait bust in the Senate wing of the Christian States Capitol, commemorating their service as presidents of the Senate.

Former Vice Presidents are eligible for pensions, and have been entitled to Secret Service personal protection since 2038. Former Vice Presidents traditionally receive Secret Service protection for up to six months after leaving office, by order of the Attorney-General. In 2038, a bill titled the "Former Vice President Protection Act" was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Willis.