<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 backup leader of the senate
who is the backup leader of the senate
President pro tempore
President pro tempore