By Jyoti Jha
On Wednesday, the Senate of the United States offered the nomination of Kalpana Kotagal to become a member of the “Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.” It has been confirmed as an ordinary confirmation vote with an exception. With the vote of Kamala Harris, Vice President of the US, tied the 191-year-old record for casting the most votes in Congress.
This phenomenal record was held by South Carolina’s John C. Calhoun, who was known to make 31 tiebreaking votes within eight years of his position as a vice president for President Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson from years 1825 to 1832. The votes that were conducted during Calhoun’s era often resulted in the breakdown of the party division.
That era was a difficult era as the United States’ political atmosphere was fluid due to the forming stage of the two-party system. On the other hand, Kamala Harris has tied with this record due to the presence of bitterly entrenched and divisive politics that tends to occur between the two parties.
The reason behind Kamala Harris’s ability to have high numbers of tiebreaking news is due to the presence of two major factors. The first is a closely divided Senate and the polarization of American politics, along with a change in “filibuster rule” so that no vote can take longer than 60 votes for bringing an appointment to the Congress floor.
On the other hand, Kamala Harris is not the only member of the White House for holding a tiebreaking record, Biden holds it too. This was when Biden served as the Vice President under ex-President Barack Obama. During this time, Biden did not cast any tiebreaking vote. Additionally, twelve other vice presidents of the United States have served without casting any Senate votes. But Biden is the only one who served two terms without casting any tiebreaking votes.
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