What is Acting President of the United States?
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}} An '''acting president of the United States''' is someone who temporarily takes on the powers and duties of the [[President of the United States|president]] without officially holding the title. This can happen if the president becomes too sick to perform their job, resigns, dies, or is removed from office. It can also happen if a new president has not been chosen or is unable to take office by [[United States presidential inauguration|Inauguration Day]]. The [[United States]] has a plan called the presidential line of succession, which chooses who will serve as acting president in these situations. The U.S. Constitution mentions presidential succession in Article II, the [[Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twentieth Amendment]], and the [[Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twenty-fifth Amendment]]. The [[Vice President of the United States|vice president]] is the first in line to take over, and if they can't serve, Congress gets to choose who comes next. The current order of succession, set by the [[Presidential Succession Act of 1947]] and last updated in 2006, is: the vice president, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the president pro tempore of the Senate, and then members of the president’s Cabinet, starting with the secretary of state. However, if someone other than the vice president takes over, they only act as president and do not officially become president. The vice president immediately becomes president if the current president dies, resigns, or is [[Impeachment|removed]]. If a [[President-elect of the United States|president-elect]] dies or refuses to serve before Inauguration Day, the vice president-elect becomes president. A vice president can also serve as acting president if the president is temporarily unable to do their job due to illness or another reason. So far, this has happened three times, but in each case, the vice president only served as acting president for a short time without officially becom