President Joe Biden will transfer power briefly to Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday while he is under anesthesia for a routine colonoscopy, making her the first woman to hold presidential power in US history.
Biden is undergoing his annual physical at the Walter Reed military hospital outside of Washington. Harris is the first woman to serve as vice president of the United States; no woman has ever been president in the country’s nearly 250-year history.
Biden had a brush with death in 1988, requiring surgery to repair two brain aneurysms, weak bulges in arteries, one of them leaking. Biden has never had a recurrence, his doctor said, citing a test in 2014 that examined his arteries.
Pursuant to the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, Biden will sign a letter to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives saying he is unable to discharge his duties while under anesthesia, making Harris the acting president, and will send them another letter upon the conclusion of the procedure to resume his duties.
