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[grantcart]

37. Checking the actual Senator resolution I find that your rendering of the term of President Pro Tem

is largely more correct than the authorities I cited.


The Office of the President Pro Tem is extended but only to the end of their term as Senator. If Grassley was facing election this November, his term would not be continued.

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL30960

Four years later the Senate resolved the question of the President pro tempore’s tenure when it
adopted a resolution originally introduced by Senator William M. Evarts of New York. As
adopted by the Senate on March 12, 1890, the resolution read:
Resolved, That it is competent for the Senate to elect a President pro tempore, who shall
hold the office during the pleasure of the Senate and until another is elected, and shall
execute the duties thereof during all future absences of the Vice-President until the Senate
otherwise order.22
That resolution is still in effect. Under its terms a President pro tempore, once elected, holds the
post continuously whether or not the Vice President is absent (although, of course, he may not
preside over the Senate unless the Vice President steps down from the chair). The tenure of the
President pro tempore ends upon the expiration of the term for which he was elected Senator, a
precedent dating back to at least 1841. He may, of course, resign, or the Senate may elect another
in his stead at its pleasure.

So your assertion that the term of the President Pro Tem of the continues past 2019 is correct but it is not an open ended extension as you implied. Grassley's term as President Pro Tem does have an end date and that date is Jan 3 2021. All in all your understanding which was not entirely correct was a lot closer to the record.

As to my doing additional searching beyond a reasonable public source, there was no evidence to suggest that it was incorrect. If you knew what the rule was why didn't you state it correctly and cite the authority.

As to the more general question of the Senate being a continuous body, you persist in the incorrect assumption that the Senate is continuous and the House is not.

As cited above in the Constitution the Senate and the House together, not separately for a "Congress" whose sessions are not continuous. They are termed events that start and finish on the same day for both houses. All of the Officers of both bodies finish the term on Jan 3rd of odd years and all of the Officers begin their terms on the same day, with the exception of the Vice President and the above noted exception of the President Pro Tem whose term ends on the last day of his Senate term.

Needless to say even though Grassley's term is continued it is unlikely he will be extended in that term because since he serves at the pleasure of the Senate he would not survive a resolution to replace. In that circumstance the Senate has established something called the President Pro Tem Emeritus for past PPT who lost the position by change of majority starting with Thurmond. Leahy, having been PPT now holds that position.