Vice President Kamala Harris announced that instead of co-chairing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress, she will attend a planned event in Indiana, the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Grand Boule in Indianapolis.
Because it is a joint meeting The Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate (the Vice President) typically preside over House and Senate sessions. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said today that it may be “unprecedented” for the Vice President not to preside over the sessions.
However, there have been multiple instances over the years where the chair has been chaired by an interim chair.
Kamala Harris to skip Netanyahu’s State of the Union address as Democratic senators boycott
One such example was Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of Parliament in 2015, which was the last time he addressed Parliament.
Speaking to the Israeli Knesset, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a “tragic mistake” had been made over the Rafah fire, which has left 45 Palestinians dead. (Knesset Channel/Reuters)
Biden, who was then vice president, did not co-chair the meeting with then-House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). Instead, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who was then the Senate president pro tempore, served as chair.
In 2011, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard addressed a joint session of Congress, but Biden, then vice president, did not preside over that session either — it was Senator Boehner and Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), who was then acting speaker.
Anti-Israel agitators break into Parliament building on eve of Netanyahu speech
There are other examples, but it’s extremely rare for someone like Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the acting chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to preside over a joint session of Congress. Currently, the Senate’s president pro tempore is Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who also does not co-chair a joint session with Johnson.
Anti-Israel protesters rally in Washington Square Park in New York City on Friday, May 3, 2024. The demonstration is being organized by New York University’s Palestine Solidarity Coalition as campus protests spread across the country. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
The dispute is playing out amid chaos on Capitol Hill, with a large group of pro-Palestinian protesters occupying the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building. Police have made several arrests.
Threats have been heightened, especially since the shooting of former President Trump. The Capitol building is now surrounded by a massive fence, the same type of fence that police installed after the Capitol riot. The campus is scheduled to be on lockdown for most of tomorrow.
Many Democrats plan to skip Netanyahu’s speech in protest at the Israeli leader’s waging of war in the Gaza Strip.
WASHINGTON – MAY 21: Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) arrives to attend a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the Department of State’s fiscal year 2025 budget request, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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If Sen. Ben Cardin, acting chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, serves as co-chair of a joint session of Congress, he will not be the first person to do so other than the vice president or the chair pro tempore.
In fact, the late Senator David Pryor (D-Arkansas) was the last person other than the Vice President or the President pro tempore of the Senate to preside over such a meeting, when President Roh Tae-woo addressed a joint session of Congress on October 18, 1989. He shared responsibility with the late Speaker of the House Tom Foley (D-Wash.).
Fox News’ David Unsworth contributed to this report.
