Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Moving On Up at the Department of Homeland Security


The Senate has voted to change the line of succession -- moving the Homeland Security Secretary from last in line to number eight to take over if the President -- and everyone else in between -- is unable to do the job.

The new line looks like this:
  • Vice President Dick Cheney
  • House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL)
  • Senate President Pro Tem Ted Stevens (R-AK)
  • Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
  • Treasury Secretary John Snow
  • Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
  • Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
  • Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff
  • Interior Secretary 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 Y. Mineta
  • Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman
  • Education Secretary Margaret Spellings
  • Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson
But Sec Gutierrez was born in Cuba and Sec Chao was born in Taiwan. The Constitution requires the President be a native born American so those two would be ineligible. (WashPost)

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