Presidential line of succession

Presidential Line of Succession

In July 2005, Senate Bill 442: "A bill to provide for the Secretary of Homeland Security to be included in the line of Presidential succession", sponsored by Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), and House Resolution 1455 proposed: If President George W. Bush was unable to serve, he would be replaced by Vice President Dick Cheney, who would be followed by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, the Associated Press reported July 26, 2005. Last in line of succession would be the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

"The Constitution, however, requires that the president be a natural-born citizen, so Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, born in Cuba&mdash;and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, born in Taiwan, would be ineligible," the AP wrote.


 * 1) Vice President Dick Cheney
 * 2) House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.
 * 3) Senate President Pro Tem Ted Stevens, R-Alaska
 * 4) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
 * 5) Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. (then John Snow)
 * 6) Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
 * 7) Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales
 * 8) Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff
 * 9) Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne (then Gale A. Norton)
 * 10) Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns
 * 11) Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez
 * 12) Labor Secretary Elaine Chao
 * 13) Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt)
 * 14) Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson
 * 15) Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters (then Norman Y. Mineta)
 * 16) Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman
 * 17) Education Secretary Margaret Spellings
 * 18) Veterans Affairs Secretary R. James "Jim" Nicholson

Background

 * Twenty-Fifth Amendment&mdash;Presidential-Succession
 * U.S. Constitution Online
 * dKosopedia
 * Wikipedia

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Bush administration
 * Bush administration doomsday line of Pentagon succession
 * Shadow Government