<P> The Constitution also provides for appointment of one of the elected senators to serve as President pro tempore . This senator presides when the vice president is 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 their constitutional right to do so ) . Instead , as governed by Rule I , they frequently designate a junior senator to perform the function . </P>
<P> The Constitution also provides for appointment of one of the elected senators to serve as President pro tempore . This senator presides when the vice president is 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 their constitutional right to do so ) . Instead , as governed by Rule I , they frequently designate a junior senator to perform the function . </P>
who serves as president of the senate in his absence
who serves as president of the senate in his absence
appointment of one of the elected senators to serve as President pro tempore
appointment of one of the elected senators to serve as President pro tempore