…As President Biden steps down for medical treatment
Vice President Kamala Harris has scored another first as she is about to function as the Acting President of the United States pending the recovery of President Joe Biden.
She scored the very first when she was elected as the first female Vice President to President Biden in November last year.
The White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, announced the stepping down of Biden in a statement made available on Friday.
Psaki added that Biden will temporarily transfer powers to his VP Harris to go for a routine colonoscopy at Reed Media Centre, adding that the medical procedure will require the US president to be under anesthesia.
The statement reads in part, “Following the process set out in the Constitution, President Biden will transfer power to the Vice President for the brief period of time when he is under anesthesia.
“The Vice President will work from her office in the West Wing during this time.”
In a letter addressed to the US Senate, Joe Biden stated that he will be transferring power to Vice President Harris during the time of the anesthesia for a colonoscopy as part of a regular health check.
Biden, who turns 79 on Saturday (today), had visited the Walter Reed Medical Centre.
The “physical routine”, as disclosed by the White House, is the first treatment that Biden will be undergoing since he came into Oval office in late January.
In accordance with the US law and to officially transfer the presidential powers to Harris, Biden sent a letter to the Speaker of the House Representatives, Nancy Pelosi and and President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, at about 10:10 a.m. ET on Friday before going under anesthesia.
The Biden’s letter reads in part: “Today, I will undergo a routine medical procedure requiring sedation. In view of present circumstances, I have determined to transfer temporarily, the powers and duties of the office of President of the US to the Vice President during the brief period of the procedure and recovery.”
Section 3 of the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution says the President can send a letter to the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president pro tempore of the Senate declaring declaring they are “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.”
In order to transfer the powers back to Biden, a separate letter was sent after the procedure.
The letter, which was sent to Pelosi and Leahy reads, “In accordance with the provisions of section 3 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, I hereby transmit to you my written declaration that I am able to discharge the powers and duties of the Office of the President of the United States and that I am resuming those powers and duties.”
Theideal recalls that Kamala Harris is an American politician and a brilliant lawyer who became the 49th Vice President in November, 2020.
Incidentally, she is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in the US history as well as the first African American and first Asian American Vice President.
