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WhiteHouse.gov - Vice President Joe Biden - http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/vice_president_biden/
Official biography of Vice President Joe Biden. |
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The Senate and the United States Constitution - http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Constitution_Senate.htm#5
The position of the Vice President as President of the Senate was borrowed from the New York Constitution. |
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Constitutional Role of the Vice President of the United States - http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/tocs/a1_3_4-5.html
The Framers of the Constitution explain why they designated the Vice President of the United States as President of the Senate, in Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 of the Constitution. |
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Vice Presidential Tie-Breaking Votes - http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Tie_Breaking_Votes.htm
The Constitution gives the Vice President of the United States power to vote when the Senate is equally divided, and the Senate Historian has listed all of those occasions when the Senate President has broken a tie vote. |
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United States Seante - Vice President of the United States (President of the Senate) - http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Vice_President.htm
U.S. Senate Historical Office's compendium of information about the office and the people who have held it, including detailed discussion of the role of the Vice President in presiding over the Senate. |
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Federalist No. 68 by Alexander Hamilton - http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed68.asp
Hamilton wrote that "to secure at all times the possibility of a definite resolution of the body, it is necessary that the President [i.e. the Vice President of the U.S.] should have only a casting vote." |
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Definition of "Casting Vote" in Oxford English Dictionary - http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/castingvote?view=uk
The President of the Senate has what is called a "casting vote," defined as the decisive vote of a presiding officer, when the votes of the assembly or house are equally divided. |
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Jefferson's Manual of Parliamentary Practice, Section XVII - http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=JefBv022.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=18&division=div2
Thomas Jefferson was the second Senate President. Section XVII of his Manual covers debate, and says that no one is to speak superfluously or tediously, and that the Senate President's decision is without appeal. This rule has since been modified. |
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Senate Precedents Regarding the Vice President of the United States - http://www.gpo.gov/congress/senate/riddick/1390-1396.pdf
Details about historical Senate precedents regarding the President of the Senate are provided by Riddick's Senate Procedure. |