<P> The U.S. Constitution also provides for appointment of one of the elected Senators to serve as President pro tempore . This Senator presides when the vice president was absent from the body . The President pro tempore is selected by the body specifically for the role of presiding in the absence of ( as the meaning of pro tempore , literally `` for the time being '' ) the actual presiding officer . By tradition , the title of President pro tempore has come to be given more - or-less automatically to the most senior senator of the majority party . In actual practice in the modern Senate , the President pro tempore also does not often serve in the role ( though it is his or her constitutional right to do so ) , instead , as governed by the aforementioned Rule I , he or she frequently designates a junior senator to perform the function . </P>
<P> The U.S. Constitution also provides for appointment of one of the elected Senators to serve as President pro tempore . This Senator presides when the vice president was absent from the body . The President pro tempore is selected by the body specifically for the role of presiding in the absence of ( as the meaning of pro tempore , literally `` for the time being '' ) the actual presiding officer . By tradition , the title of President pro tempore has come to be given more - or-less automatically to the most senior senator of the majority party . In actual practice in the modern Senate , the President pro tempore also does not often serve in the role ( though it is his or her constitutional right to do so ) , instead , as governed by the aforementioned Rule I , he or she frequently designates a junior senator to perform the function . </P>
who is the presiding officer of the senate when the vice president is not there
who is the presiding officer of the senate when the vice president is not there
President pro tempore
President pro tempore