Senate Votes to Move up DHS Secretary in Presidential Line of Succession
Source Associated Press WorldStream via NewsEdge Corporation
WASHINGTON -- The Senate approved a bill to move the secretary of Homeland Security from last to eighth in the line of succession to the presidency, just after the attorney general.
The bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio, passed without dissent just before the chamber adjourned. A companion bill in the House of Representatives, sponsored by Republican Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, is pending in committee.
If the House should pass the bill, the order of those in line to assume the presidency if President Bush is unable to serve would be:
Vice President Dick Cheney, who also acts as president of the Senate
House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois
Senate President Pro Tempore Ted Stevens of Alaska
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Treasury Secretary John Snow
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff
Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez
Labor Secretary Elaine Chao
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings
Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson
