Harris ties vice presidential Senate tiebreaker record with 31st vote: ‘It’s a good feeling’
Haisten Willis
Video Embed
Vice President Kamala Harris just tied the record for tiebreakers.
Harris, who will be in office at least another 18 months and is seeking reelection, has tied John C. Calhoun’s record for tiebreaking votes in the Senate at 31. The vote was to invoke cloture on the nomination of Kalpana Kotagal to join the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
BIDEN’S CLIMATE AGENDA DREAMS COLLIDE WITH MILITARY REALITIES
“It’s a good feeling, thank you,” she told the Washington Examiner when asked how it felt to tie the record.
“It is a moment, and I think that there’s still so much that we have yet to do when we talk about the firsts,” Harris told reporters afterward. “And as I’ve always said, my mother had gave me great advice, which is that I may be first to do many things. I’m going to make sure I’m not the last.”
Calhoun’s record of 31 tiebreakers has stood for nearly 200 years, as his term as vice president ran from 1825 to 1832. Harris quickly matched his tally thanks to a 50-50 Senate during her first two years in office, followed by one that is technically 51-49 in Democrats’ favor but has been hampered by absences and defections.
Vice presidents, as president of the Senate, cast tiebreaking votes when the upper chamber is deadlocked, though it’s a fairly rare occurrence that has happened less than 300 times since the nation’s founding. Joe Biden and Dan Quayle never cast a tiebreaker during their vice presidencies.
Harris, by contrast, has had to cast so many tiebreakers that some feel the practice distracts her from her other duties. Besides Calhoun, Harris, and John Adams, no vice president has cast more than 19 tiebreaking votes in office.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Among the more notable tiebreakers Harris has made were votes to approve the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan stimulus package and the $891 billion Inflation Reduction Act. She cast four tiebreakers in a single day on May 11, 2022.
Along with her frequent tiebreakers, Harris enjoys a high profile for a vice president because she would become commander in chief if Biden, 80, cannot complete a first or second term.
David Sivak and Mabinty Quarshie contributed to this story.